Capsicum dimorphum (Miers) Kuntze

Description. Erect or scandent shrubs or subshrubs, (0.4 -) 0.8 - 2 (- 3) m tall, profusely branched above, the branches dichotomously spreading in a typical " zig-zag " appearance. Young stems terete or slightly angled, fragile, greenish-purple or maroon, densely pubescent with ochraceous or white, spreading or antrorse, flexuous or hirsute, simple, uniseriate, 2 - 8 - celled, eglandular trichomes 0.3 - 1 (- 1.5) mm long, sometimes glabrous or glabrescent; nodes green; bark of older stems pale brown or golden-brown; lenticels light brown, sometimes absent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate; leaf pair markedly unequal in size and shape. Leaves membranous, rarely coriaceous, with sparse or abundant antrorse eglandular trichomes adaxially and abaxially, the trichomes spreading on the veins abaxially; blades of major leaves 4.2 - 12 (- 17) cm long, 0.8 - 4 (- 8) cm wide, elliptic, the major veins 4 - 6 on each side of mid-vein, sometimes purple-coloured abaxially, the base attenuate, asymmetric or not, the margins entire, the apex long-acuminate; petioles 0.5 - 1.2 cm long, moderately pubescent or glabrescent; blades of minor leaves sessile, 0.5 - 4 (- 8) cm long, 0.4 - 1.7 (- 5) cm wide, orbicular or ovate or rarely elliptic, the major veins 2 - 3 on each side of mid-vein, the base short-attenuate or rounded, asymmetric, the margins entire, the apex obtuse or rounded, with same pubescence as major leaves. Inflorescences axillary, 2 - 5 flowers or flowers solitary; flowering pedicels (3 -) 5 - 14 mm, angled, green or green with purple lines, curved to pendent, non-geniculate at anthesis, glabrescent to moderately pubescent, the eglandular trichomes short or long, spreading or antrorse; pedicels scars inconspicuous. Buds ovoid, purple or yellowish. Flowers 5 - merous. Calyx 1.75 - 2.6 mm long, 3 - 3.3 mm in diameter, cup-shaped, circular or pentagonal in outline, fleshy, green, greenish-purple or purple, calyx appendages absent or 1 - 3, as mucro-like structures, 0.5 - 1 mm long, spreading and laterally flattened, emerging 0 - 0.2 mm below the margin, glabrescent to densely pubescent with antrorse or spreading trichomes. Corolla 6 - 9.5 (- 11) mm long, 8 - 12 mm in diameter, entirely yellow or yellow with dark purple or maroon spots outside and within, stellate with interpetalar membrane, lobed nearly halfway to the base, glabrous adaxially and abaxially, the tube 2 - 3.5 mm long, the lobes (1.75 -) 2 - 4 mm long, 1.5 - 2.8 (- 3) mm wide, triangular or ovate, spreading or slightly reflexed at anthesis, the margins and tips papillose. Stamens five, equal; filaments (1.5 -) 2 - 2.5 mm long, cream or light lilac, inserted on the corolla ca. 2 mm from the base, with auricles fused to the corolla at the point of insertion; anthers 1.5 - 2.3 mm long, ovoid, slightly apiculate, pale purple, bluish-purple, dark yellow or cream, connivent at anthesis. Gynoecium with ovary 1.37 - 1.6 mm long, 1.3 - 1.5 mm in diameter, cream, ovoid; ovules more than two per locule; nectary ca. 0.6 mm tall; styles homomorphic, 4.5 - 6.7 mm long, exserted 1.3 - 2 mm beyond the anthers, white near the base and purple or pale lilac to the apex, clavate, slightly curved distally; stigma 0.2 - 0.3 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, usually discoid, green or yellowish-green. Berry 5 - 11 mm in diameter, globose or subglobose, bright or opaque light green when immature, bright reddish-orange or bright red at maturity, deciduous, non-pungent, the pericarp thick, opaque, lacking giant cells (endocarp smooth); stone cells absent; fruiting pedicels 6 - 15 mm long, usually erect, rarely curved to pendent, sometimes angled, widened distally, green or purple; fruiting calyx 4 - 5 (- 7) mm in diameter, persistent, not accrescent, discoid, sometimes ripped at the margin, greenish-white or purple, the appendages if present, reflexed or spreading, purple. Seeds (6 -) 10 - 36 per fruit, 1.9 - 2.7 mm long, 1.8 - 2.1 mm wide, C-shaped or teardrop-shaped, brownish-black to black, the seed coat reticulate (SM, SEM), the cells polygonal in shape, the lateral walls straight; embryo annular.