[12] In Canada and the United States it is commonplace to provide the cultivar in most instances, for example "bell", "jalapeño", "cayenne", or "bird's eye" peppers, to convey differences in taste including sweetness or pungency.

[10] capsicum annuum are annual or biennial herbaceous plants that have a life cycle comprized of four stages (seedling, vegetation, flowering, and fruiting.

[10] Variants of this species also have the ability to produce and retain capsaicinoid compounds giving their fruits a powerful (spicy) taste which can vary in strengths.

glabriusculum" (Chiltepin peppers) Grows white flowers and produces berry fruits that are red when mature.

[15] Bell peppers grow on shrub body plants, and the fruits are large, quadrangular, and fleshy.

[16] Though this variant lacks in capsaicinoids, it is still packed with various bioactive compounds, carotinoids, and vitamins making them a valuable crop.

[16] Capsicum annuum today have many variations of fruits, the beginning to this is estimated to be from natives of Mesoamerica around 6,000 years ago using selective breeding to domesticate wild forms of the peppers.

Through research scientists have found remnants of wild peppers ancestral to modern Capsicum annuum varieties in various locations and caves in places like Oaxaca Valley Mexico.

The discovery of this has led researchers to believe that wild chili peppers were consumed before their domestication dating back to more than 8000 years ago.

[6] Domestication of crops using conscious and unconscious selective methods usually leads to a decrease in the plants natural defensive traits.

However for Capsicum annuum this is not always true, some variants have been created to increase the defensive compound capsaicin otherwise making the fruit more powerful.

Capsaicin is a compound that can be extremely powerful depending on the concentration, and this was used to protect the seeds from predation, and increase their chance of survival.

[citation needed] According to a study looking at capsicum annuum as a contender for alleviating micronutrient deficiencies, along with their flavor and coloring properties, they are also very rich in micronutrients, including vitamins: A, B, B3, and C.[21] The species is a source of popular sweet peppers and hot chilis, with numerous varieties cultivated all around the world, and is the source of popular spices such as cayenne, chili, pimentón and paprika powders, as well as pimiento (pimento).

[14] Some cultivars grown specifically for their aesthetic value include the U.S. National Arboretum's "Black Pearl"[22] and the "Bolivian Rainbow".