Fruit Morphology as Taxonomic Features in Five Varieties ofCapsicum annuumL. Solanaceae

[摘要] Variations in the fruit morphological features ofCapsicum annuumvarieties were studied. Varieties studied include var.abbreviatum, var.annuum, var.accuminatum, var.grossum, and var.glabriusculum. The fruit morphology revealed attenuated fruit shape with rounded surfaces in var.glabriusculum, and cordate fruit shape with flexuous surface in var.annuum,abbreviatumandaccuminatum. The fruit is a berry and may be green, yellow, or red when ripe. The fruit epidermal cell-wall patterns are polygonal in shape with straight and curved anticlinal walls in all the five varieties. The fruit of var.abbreviatumand var.grossumis trilocular, while that of var.accuminatumandannuumis bilocular, and that of var.glabriusculumis tetralocular.Capsicum annuumvar.glabriusculumhad the highest mean number of seeds (108.4) and var.annuumhad the lowest number of seeds (41.3) per fruit. The fruit is conspicuously hollowed in var.glabriusculum,accuminatum, andannuumbut inconspicuously hollowed in var.abbreviatumand var.grossum. These features are shown to be good taxonomic characters for delimiting the five varieties ofCapsicum annuum.

[学科分类] 植物学