Abstract
Translation of sweet pepper into Spanish does not have the same meaning in English, in Spanish sweet pepper literal translation refers to non-pungent chilli, different to Capsicum annuum. In Venezuela the term sweet pepper is referred to the species Capsicum chinense, very important vegetable in Venezuelan gastronomy, to the point that it defines the cuisine of this country. In spite of agricultural and cultural importance of Capsicum chinense in Venezuela, there is little knowledge about this species under agricultural perspective, the knowledge is restricted to the gastronomy, one of the consequences of this little knowledge is minimum afford to get genetic improvement and obtaining of new cultivar. For this reason, the objective of this study was to characterize morphologically a collection of Capsicum chinense, composed by accessions collected in Venezuelan home gardens, supermarkets, wholesale markets, familiar retail markets, enterprises and agricultural research institutions. Seeds from 25 accessions collected from 7 out of 23 states in Venezuela were planted in field under a random complete blocks design with four replications, and 22 morphological traits proposed by IPGRI descriptor were evaluated on a total of 20 plants per accessions. The most discriminant traits were related to the fruit, especially weight, color, shape of the apex, width, and shape. Principal components and phenogram were able to group similarly the 25 accessions based on the 22 morphological traits. No relationship between the statistical grouping and the geographical collection site was found. Broad diversity found allows to assume future successful Capsicum chinense breeding programs in Venezuela.