C. annuum var. annuum has a large number of cultivars and is the most important pepper economically. Nearly all the large-fruited peppers, both sweet and hot, grown in the north temperate zone belong to this variety.

According to Heiser (1969a), the greatest diversity in the cultivated forms occurs in Central Mexico, where many villages have their own distinctive cultivars. There is a secondary centre of diversity in Guatemala. Heiser says that ‘in early times, it was not grown north of Mexico.

Although this species is cultivated today in many parts of South America, its scant use there by the Indian population suggests a recent introduction. It would appear, therefore, that in pre-Columbian times, the cultivated Capsicum annuum grew oalrAn Mexico and, Central America.’ The short growing season, required, as well as the existence of both sweet and pungent forms;-helps to explain its present wide distribution.

According to Heiser (1969b), there are some twenty wild species of Capsicum, most of which are South American, with two of them, C. annuum var. glabriusculum and C. frutescens, extending through Middle America to the southern United States.

Heiser (1969a) thinks it likely that .var. glabriusculum entered Central America and Mexico from South America, transported either by birds, which spread the seeds and are very fond of the fruits, or as a weed that travelled with man. The latter seems unlikely considering the dating of the earliest remains in Mexico.

Man later took it into cultivation and by selection it lost the deciduous habit, giving rise to some pendent types and to a great diversity of fruit forms and colours, as well as degrees of pungency. The variation was greatest in that part of the plant which is of greatest economic importance, namely the fruits.