The mild or sweet peppers (C. annuum) are eaten either raw or cooked and can hardly be termed a spice. They are also pickled. They are usually harvested fully grown, but while they are still green.

Many of them are red when ripe. They take from 60 to 75 transplanting to the first harvest at the green-mature stage. They are typically thick-fleshed, three- or four-lobed, 10-12.5 cm long and about the same maximum diameter. A well-known and widely grown cultivar is ‘Californian Wonder’ and selections from it such as ‘Florida Giant’ and `Yolo Wonder’, the last named being resistant to tobacco mosaic virus. Two tapering cultivars are ‘Neapolitan’ and ‘Ruby King’.

Bees and ants visit the flowers. Both self- and cross-pollination occur, the latter being about 16 per cent (Purseglove, 1968). Aiyadurai (1966) states that the extent of natural cross-pollination in chillies in India was :found to be as high as 58 to 68 per cent. Padda and Singh (1971) found that the majority of chilli flowers open between 5 and 6 a.m. Pollen shedding takes place at 9 a.m. and continues until 11 a.m. The best time for hand-pollination was 10 a.m. on the day that the flower opens and gives the highest fruit set.

A number of forms of paprika for the ground product are grown in southern Europe. Both ‘Hungarian Paprika’, with conical fruits, 5-12.5 cm long, and ‘Spanish Paprika’, with larger thick-walled fruits, 12.5-22.0 cm long, are grown in the United States. Boswell et al. (1964) state that the former is more popular as it is easier to dry and less susceptible to diseases.

Pickersgill (1969) considers that as a result of domestication there has been a shift to increased self-pollination with shorter styles at or near the level of the anthers. Self-incompatibility is reported in some wild species, but is unknown in cultivated forms, so that they can be grown in small areas without losing their identity. Increased inbreeding is possible by man selecting for high fruit set and plants that come true from seeds. Popova (1973) states that the percentage of cross-pollination is higher in flowers whose stigmas are higher than the level of the stamens. The vitality of the pollen can be preserved between 8 and 10 clays when it is kept at a temperature of 20-22 C with an atmospheric humidity of 50-55 per cent.

The receptivity of the stigma can be preserved between 5 and 7 days. The highest percentage of fruit set and the highest number of seeds per fruit are obtained when pollen is collected from stamens which have just opened.