PlantFiles: Ornamental Pepper
Capsicum annuum 'Black Pearl'

Beautiful plant. I just can not eat the peppers. Way to HOT for me....

I grew this one last year and it was a real impressor so I will plant it again next year. I love the color's on the fruit as well as the plant itself.

This has been the most fun and interesting plant! I purchased the seeds, and sowed them in early Spring, indoors in foam cups. I had 100% germination, so that took me by surprise! The leaves are beautiful!- Black matte finish on them. The peppers were delightful to watch. Most started out green, then turned to black then to the most lovely shade of red. I have them growing with Medusa peppers and bolivian rainbow peppers in a strawberry pot. They adapted well after planting and straightened themselves up to the sun. Very cool. I love the clusters of peppers. I've taken many up-close shots and hope to be able to share them with everyone here. I will be collecting seeds to share in the coming months. I would definitely find room to grow these! A word of warning: They are HOT. I got capsicum on my hands while removing seeds from the fresh peppers and it does not wash off. USE GLOVES when collecting the seeds.

Good producer of hot peppers, easy to maintain. I kept it in pots on the patio, but plan on growing them in the ground next season.
Very tasty peppers, good in chili!

I bought this on a whim at the somewhat exotic nursery in our area. Loved how they grew all season long (planted in ground). After frost had consumed the foliage, I cut it back and prayed for its return this spring. Luckily, it is coming back very nicely and I actually have a ton of babies growing in the same flower bed...probably seeded from the peppers that fell off during the growing season.

I grew some in 2006. I really enjoyed the little black bushes in front of the larger pepper plants and cannas. I wintered the smallest plant indoors and it did very well in 2007. So did the dozen or so volunteer plants that came up all over the place. Though I'm not starting any on purpose, I wouldn't mind a few volunteer plants again in 2008.

Like most peppers it takes a long time before it gets going from seed( I thought at first the germination rate was going to be very low, but almost all the seeds sprouted after waiting a while longer) through the first few month of summer here in the Midwest. From August through the first killing frost though it is a great addition to your garden or flower bed. When I first saw this plant on the University of Iowa campus I thought they had placed red lights into some of the foliage, the peppers where that bright of glowing red! I have neighbors now asking about it this year in my yard. I'm going to pot up a couple and try to overwinter in the house and see how it goes.

i stumbled on this wonderful pepper this season had a ball with it! loved to see them start out as green then go to a mottled appearance then turn a lovely shade of black then watch the pearls turn colors. cute & round no pointy top
hopefully i am able to salvage some seeds from it
i look forward to having this neat pepper in my garden again
FYI dont have to worry about kids picking the fruit and eating them as i do my pea pods. one byte and its curtains for that notion !!

Agricultural Research Service (Beltsville, Maryland) plant geneticists John Stommel, of the Plant Sciences Institute’s Vegetable Laboratory, and Robert Griesbach, of the U.S. National Arboretum’s Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit worked together to breed this wonderful ornamental pepper. It was introduced in 2005. The fruit is rounded with a slightly pointed shape when ripe rather than tapered and oblong as stated in this entry's description. It has proven to be a great addition to my landscape and it has had no problems with insects nor diseases. It succumbed after temperaures fell well below freezing; however, I did collect have seeds which will supposedly come true to the plant. I shall see.

A new pepper ( 2006 AAS winner). Black fruit turning to dark red on black purple plants. 125 day.