Abstract
Variation patterns in the white-flowered domesticated species of Capsicum and their immediate wild relatives were studied using some techniques of numerical taxonomy. Group average and nearest-neighbour clustering and principal co-ordinate analyses all show that C. baccatum is clearly distinct from the C. annuum-C. chinense-C. frutescens complex and that domesticated forms of C. baccatum are derived from wild forms of the same species. Domesticated forms of C. annuum, C. chinense and C. frutescens also prove clearly distinguishable from one another and from domesticated C. baccatumdespite considerable parallel evolution in both qualitative and quantitative characters. However, wild forms of C. annuum, C. chinense and C. frutescens form an intergrading and poorly-differentiated complex which cannot readily be divided into distinct taxa. These analyses suggest independent allopatric domestication of thefour chili peppers studied, followed by furhter divergence of the cultigens after domestication. As in many crop plants, the postulated evolutionary relationships within and between the various wild and domesticated taxa cannot easily be depicted by the formal hierarchy of taxonomic categories. [AS]