Key to the Wild Chilli Species from Brazil

1. Style cylindrical, equal in width from the base to the apex. Fruit red, generally elliptical, ovoid, or sometimes globose. Seeds yellowish-brown, the episperm smooth. Corolla 4–7.5 mm long.

2. Corolla stellate, unspotted, white or cream-colored, the lobes generally oblong and more or less the same length as the limband tube. Filaments as long as or shorter than the anthers. Northern and north-eastern Brazil (Acre, Amazonas, Maranha˜o,Rondonia, Roraima).

→→C. annuum var. glabriusculum (Dunal) Heiser & Pickersgill

2. Corolla rotate, white with greenish-yellow spots on the lobes and limb inside, the lobes broader than long and markedly shorter than the limb and tube. Filaments generally 1.5 times or more longer than the anthers.

3. Corolla with the inside margin white. South and south-eastern Brazil (Espı´rito Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Parana´, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. baccatum L. var.baccatum

3. Corolla with the inside margin lilac or violet. South-eastern and west-central Brazil Goia´s, Minas Gerais, Parana´, SantaCatarina, Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. baccatum var. praetermissum (Heiser & Smith) Hunz.

1. Style clavate, widening from a moderately narrow base to a gradually broadened apex. Fruit generally yellow or yellowish-greenat maturity, rarely red-colored, globose or globose-depressed or globose-compressed. Seeds generally brownish or blackish (yellowish-brown only in C. parvifolium), the episperm foveolate with spine-like projections. Corolla (5.5) 6–15 (16) mm long.

4. Corolla entirely pink or lilac, clearly campanulate to urceolate, tube (5.5) 7–9 (11) mm. Leaves generally ovate. Eastern Brazil (Rio de Janeiro).

→→C. friburgense Bianchetti & Barboza

4. Corolla white with yellowish-green and sometimes also purple spots inside, stellate or rotate, never campanulate-urceolate, tube (2) 2.6–6 (8) mm. Leaves ovate, elliptical or narrowly elliptical

5. Pedicels non-geniculate at anthesis, the flowers pendant.

6. Shrubs or trees up to 4 m tall or more. Fascicles 5–20-flowered. Calyx 5-toothed. Anthers as long as or longer than the filaments. Seeds yellowish-brown.North-eastern Brazil (Bahı´a, Ceara´, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Piauı´, Rio Grandedo Norte) .

→→C. parvifolium Sendtn.

6. Shrubs 0.5–2 (3) m tall. Flowers solitary or the fascicles 2–3-flowered. Calyx toothless or with 5 minuscule teeth. Anthers clearly shorter than the filaments. Seeds brownish or blackish.

7. Corolla white with yellowish-green spots in the lobes and limb inside, 5.5–6 mm long. Leaves membranaceous, ovate, 2–3 (3.5) times longer than broad, glabrescent to pubescent. Fruits red at maturity. South and southeastern Brazil (Minas Gerais, Parana´, Rio Grande do Sul, Sa˜o Paulo, Santa Catarina) .

→→C. flexuosum Sendtn.

7. Corolla white with purple spots followed by an interrupted yellowish-green zone in the lobes and limb, 9–10 mm long. Leaves coriaceous, elliptical to narrowly elliptical, 3–5.5 (10) times longer than broad, glabrate. Fruits yellowish-green at maturity. South-eastern Brazil (Espı´rito Santo, Minas Gerais).

→→C. pereirae Barboza & Bianchetti

5. Pedicels geniculate at anthesis, the flowers twisted 90_.

8. Corolla lacking purple spots inside.

9. Calyx toothless. Corolla with yellow or golden spots in lobes and limb. Ovules 2 per locule. Androecium heterodynamous with 3 short stamens and 2 long stamens. Fruits globose-compressed. South-eastern Brazil (Espı´rito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro).

→→C . campylopodium Sendtn.

9. Calyx with 5, or 6 to 9 horizontal or recurved teeth. Corolla with greenish spots inside. Ovules 5–8 per locule. Androecium homodynamous with all stamens equal in length. Fruits globose-depressed. South and southeastern Brazil (Parana´, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. recurvatum Witas.

8. Corolla with purple or brownish or violaceous spots followed by yellowish-green zones inside.

10. Calyx toothless or sometimes with 5 tiny teeth. South-eastern Brazil (Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. schottianum Sendtn.

10. Calyx 5–10-toothed.

11. Calyx with only 5 short teeth (0.5–3 mm long).

12. Plants glabrescent, the hairs antrorse. Leaves elliptical to narrowly elliptical. South-eastern Brazil (Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. mirabile Mart.

12. Plants densely hairy, the hairs flexuous and patent on stems, petioles, pedicels, and sometimes alsoon the leaf nerves beneath. Leaves ovate. South-eastern Brazil (Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. villosum Sendtn.

11. Calyx up to 6–10 long teeth (3.2–6 mm long).

13. Shrubs 1.2–1.8 m tall, densely hairy. Corolla (8) 9–12 (14) mm long. Leaves membranaceous, ovate to broadly ovate. South-eastern Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. cornutum (Hiern) Hunz.

13. Shrubs up to 3 m tall, glabrate. Corolla 10–14 (16) mm long. Leaves coriaceous, slightly ovate to elliptical. South-eastern Brazil (Sa˜o Paulo).

→→C. hunzikerianum Barboza & Bianchetti