The facing heaven pepper (Chinese name: 朝天椒; pinyin: ''cháotiānjiāo'', also known as 指天椒; pinyin: ''zhǐtiānjiāo'' meaning "skyward-pointing chili pepper"), is a type of

cone pepper A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

, a group of cone-shaped, medium-hot

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

s within the species ''

Capsicum annuum ''Capsicum annuum'' is a species of the plant genus ''Capsicum'' native to southern North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. This species is the most common and extensively cultivated of the five domesticated capsicums. The spec ...

''. The species is native to

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

Taxonomy

The facing heaven pepper is type of cone pepper, a group within the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cone peppers are sometimes listed as a botanical variety, as ''Capsicum annuum'' var. ''conoides''. This variety is not an accepted name in the

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

. Cone peppers are now called the ''Capsicum annuum'' "conoides group".

Description

Facing heaven peppers are identified by the conical shape and dark red color of mature fruit.

Uses

Historic sources described the fruits as "extremely spicy" though the flavor has likely changed over time.

References

Chili peppers Crops originating from the Americas {{China-cuisine-stub