A strange pepper hybrid

[varg 90]

Last year a friend of mine gave me seeds of Trinidad Seasoning (C.chinense). I sowed them, they germinated successfully. After a half of month I left only one plant (I'm growing peppers indoors & don't have enough space for all peppers I've got after germinating). Being newbie I didn't notice at first that the seedling had different leaves than a chile pepper seedling that belongs to C.chinense used to have. The chile plant continued to grow and December 6 2010 it started to bloom. But the flowers were unusual for C.chinense varieties and looked like C.baccatum's flowers but only without yellow-greenish spot:

 

Despite flowers were full of pollen there were no pods at all. Then I decided to stress the plant (as far as I know some shocked plants "think" they're going to die and begin trying to leave their offspring as soon as possible). So I cut the top of the plant and put it in vermiculite for rooting. In 20 days the graft had a lot of roots, after a while it flowered and gave some pods (despite the chlorosis of leaves).

 

Now the biggest one looks like this:

 

Very strange hybrid isn't it?

Which specie could be involved in forming of this hybrid? The hybrid has 1 or 2 flowers per node. The flower is erect and white but has no yellow-greenish spot inside.

[Lonewolf 18,098]

Interesting.

It looks like a C.annuum (white flower without spots) and all other elements are consistent, BUT the strange thing are the non-purple anthers (do you confirm this on all flowers?)

This characteristic is typical (among white flowers) to C.chacoense and C.galapagoense, so the plant can be and hybrid annuum x chacoense or annuum x galapagoense; both can hybridize with C.annuum

[varg 90]

Interesting.

...BUT the strange thing are the non-purple anthers (do you confirm this on all flowers?)

Yes, I can confirm it!

I've forgot to notice that the flowers has yellow spots outside:

[megamastger71 8]

i pear shape di Sara hanno la stessa caratteristica, trattandosi di chinense in questo caso ....

 

comunque nell'ultima foto il fiore sembra avere delle macchie gialle (quello in alto a sinistra)... o è una mia impressione?

[pioc 36]

Yes, I can confirm it!

I've forgot to notice that the flowers has yellow spots outside:

...

 

Mega, forse ti sfuggì la segnalazione (conferma) che fece varg!

[megamastger71 8]

cu stu 'nglisi nun ci capisciu na beneamata min.....

 

Grazie Pio

[Lonewolf 18,098]

The pod looks similar to Brazilian starfish, as published by kibaumm

https://www.pepperfriends.com/forum/index.p...st&p=114532

 

Starfish it's a C.baccatum, but it should have spots even inside corolla (sometimes spots are very small, such as in Jamy and Nagalemon)

An hybrid between C.baccatum and other species is unlikely, becausa C.baccatum hardly produced fertile hybrids.

 

Please, keep seeds if possibile; this plant deserves attention

[varg 90]

...

Please, keep seeds if possibile; this plant deserves attention

 

OK, sure! I'll keep them.

[varg 90]

The first pod has begun to mature...

[Piccantilly 15]

On semillas.de catalogue, there are two similar

 

Brazilian_Pumpkin.pdf

 

Brazilian_Starfish.pdf

 

[varg 90]

 

Time to carry a taste test. 

The pod was very, very crunchy, juicy, sweetish at first, then a little sour in the end. And NO HEAT AT ALL!!!

So I think man can make conclusion that it is not a genuine Starfish or Mini Bonnet.

Look at the next photo:

You can see a weak throat of the calyx. The deep throat of the calyx is an important feature of the species C. chinense.

So can man suggest that my strange chile pepper variety is a C.baccatum x C.chinense hybrid?