My Dad cultivates a Chilli Plant in the balcony.
This chilli plant, which bears what we commonly know as Chilli Padi, is also called Bird's eye Chilli (Capsicum frutescens L.) [No idea why it is named as such]. It is a shrub, a perennial plant (fruits throughout the year) with small tapering fruits which are commonly used in Asian cuisine. This plant is native to tropical America.
The newly formed flower bud and the budding chilli fruit, or berry, behind. Yeap, the fruits of the chilli plant is classified as berry in scientific terms, as the chilli fruit is produced from a single ovary.
Freshly opened flower. The purple-blue pollen sacs and the short stigma and style have yet to mature.
A mature flower, completed with pollens that are ready to disperse. I saw one or two ants making visits to the flowers on the plant the other day, crawling towards the base of the flower probably to taste the sweet nectar. I suppose ants could be one of the pollinators of this plant.
Green not-yet-matured chilli fruit and the red matured ones. As we all know, the smaller the chilli fruit is, the spicier it is. The fruits of this plant species is in fact one of the hottest 'chillis' around. The ones in above are not yet plucked, but would you like to have a go at its fiery taste? ;D
