scovidex Get the app
Get the app

Types of Peppers, 5 Heat Bands and 5 Crop Species

Every entry with its heat range, species, origin and uses, in one list you can filter.

  1. Bell pepperMild
  2. PoblanoMild
  3. AnaheimMedium
  4. SerranoMedium
  5. CayenneHot
  6. Thai chiliHot
  7. ChiltepinExtra-hot
  8. Scotch bonnetExtra-hot
  9. Ghost pepperSuper-hot
  10. Pepper XSuper-hot

Every pepper in the index

Heat
44 peppers

Heat ranges as their sources publish them. Sources on each entry page.

Browse by

Species

Origin

One continent of origin, many second homes.

See all

Use

Choose the job first, then the pepper.

See all

All Pepper Index topics

About Pepper Index
On this page
  1. 1What are the main types of peppers?
  2. 2How do you read an entry in the index?
  3. 3How hot is each type of pepper?
  4. 4Which species does a pepper belong to?
  5. 5Why do two sources print different numbers for one pepper?
  6. 6How many peppers are in the index, and can you filter them?

What are the main types of peppers?

Peppers sort two ways, and the index uses both. By heat, they run from a bell pepper at zero Scoville heat units1 to Pepper X at an average of 2,693,000 SHU2. By species, nearly every pepper you can buy comes from one of five crop species in the genus Capsicum3.

43species in the genus Capsicum3
5species grown as crops3
5heat bands in this index, mild to super-hot
2,693,000SHUPepper X, the hottest average on record2

Inside each species sit pod types, which the NMSU Chile Pepper Institute defines as horticultural divisions of a species, such as jalapeño, bell or New Mexican4. A pod type is what you ask for at your market. The species is what tells you how your plant grows and roughly how hot it can get.

How do you read an entry in the index?

Every row in the index is one pepper, and every number in it links to the page we read it on, so you can check any figure yourself. The columns stay the same for every pepper, so you can compare any two rows directly.

What each column in the index means, with the habanero entry as the example
ColumnWhat it tells youHabanero example
HeatThe published Scoville range, or one average when the source gives only that100,000–350,000 SHU
BandWhich of the five heat bands holds the middle of that rangeExtra-hot
SpeciesThe Capsicum species, from a taxonomic or extension sourceC. chinense
OriginWhere the pepper or its species first grew, with the source's wordingNorth-central Amazon Basin
FlavorThe flavor words the source uses, shown as tagsFruity, citrus, floral
UsesWhat the source says people make with itHot sauce, spicy food
Days to harvestDays from transplanting to ripe fruit, where a source gives it90–120
Source: 1

A blank cell means we have not read that fact on a primary source yet. We leave it empty instead of filling it from a seed packet or a forum.

How hot is each type of pepper?

The index splits heat into five bands. Each band starts where the one below it ends, and the jump between them grows fast: the super-hot band starts 400 times higher than the medium band.

The five heat bands in the index, with known peppers in each
BandScoville rangePeppers in itTheir published heat
Mild0–2,499 SHUBell pepper, poblano0 SHU; 1,000–2,000 SHU
Medium2,500–29,999 SHUJalapeño, serrano2,000–8,000 SHU; 10,000–25,000 SHU
Hot30,000–99,999 SHUCayenne, Thai chili25,000–50,000 SHU; 50,000–100,000 SHU
Extra-hot100,000–999,999 SHUHabanero, Scotch bonnet100,000–350,000 SHU each
Super-hot1,000,000 SHU and upGhost pepper, Carolina Reaper, Pepper X1,001,304; 1,641,183; 2,693,000 SHU (averages)
Sources: Sources for this line1. University of Florida IFAS Extension2. Guinness World Records3. PhytoKeys 200:1-423 (Pensoft)5. HortScience 42(2):222-224
One pepper from each band on the same heat axis

Log scale; bars are published ranges.13

The bands get wider as you climb: the hot band spans about 70,000 SHU, the extra-hot band 900,000. The numbers themselves come from a lab test, and the Scoville heat unit page shows how a reading in parts per million becomes SHU.

Why does a pepper sit in one band when its range crosses two?

Because the index files each pepper by the middle of its range, so you always know which rule put it there. Cayenne runs 25,000 to 50,000 SHU1, so it starts in the medium band and ends in the hot band. Its midpoint is (25,000 + 50,000) ÷ 2 = 37,500 SHU, which lands in hot.

The jalapeño works the same way. Its range of 2,000 to 8,000 SHU starts in mild, but its midpoint of 5,000 matches the average UF/IFAS gives for it1, so it sits in medium. For peppers with a single published average, such as the ghost pepper, the average decides the band.

The filter uses the band, while the range chart on each entry shows the full spread. If you're cooking for someone who is sensitive to heat, look at the top of the range. That's the pod that surprises people.

Which species does a pepper belong to?

Farmers grow five species as crops. Three of them, C. annuum, C. chinense and C. frutescens, grow all over the world, while farms raise C. baccatum and C. pubescens mostly in South America3.

The five crop species of Capsicum, how to spot them and which peppers belong to each
SpeciesWhere it growsWhat to look forPod types
C. annuumWorldwide; the most widely grown pepperWhite flowers, usually one per node; pale yellow seedsBell, wax, cayenne, jalapeño, bird
C. chinenseWorldwide; wild forms first grew in the north-central Amazon BasinDull white or greenish-white flowers; a ring-shaped narrowing where the calyx meets the stemHabanero, Scotch bonnet, ghost, scorpion
C. frutescensWorldwide; native to lowland tropical AmericaGreenish-white flowers; a deep cup-shaped calyx with no narrowingTabasco, Thai, malagueta
C. baccatumMostly South AmericaWhite flowers with greenish-yellow spots insideAjí types, such as ají amarillo
C. pubescensMostly South AmericaDark purple or violet flowers; brownish-black to black seedsRocoto
Sources: 36

The pod-type column follows the University of Guam Extension's species table6. One row on it is disputed: UF/IFAS Extension files the Thai pepper under C. annuum1, and the Thai chili entry walks through why.

Four pepper flowers side by side, white, cream with green-yellow spots, purple and greenish-white, with a small green pod below the last one showing a ring where its cap meets the stem. C. annuum: plain white flowers3C. baccatum: greenish-yellow spots inside the petals3C. pubescens: purple flowers, black seeds3C. chinense: a ring-shaped groove where the cap meets the stem3
  1. C. annuum: plain white flowers3
  2. C. baccatum: greenish-yellow spots inside the petals3
  3. C. pubescens: purple flowers, black seeds3
  4. C. chinense: a ring-shaped groove where the cap meets the stem3

How can you tell a habanero's species from a jalapeño's?

Look at the cap. The monograph on the genus calls the ring-shaped narrowing between the calyx and the stem the key trait for spotting C. chinense3. A habanero shows you that ring on every pod, while a jalapeño, being C. annuum, never has it.

This matters past botany. C. chinense holds the habanero, the Scotch bonnet and nearly every record holder, and the New Mexico researchers who tested the ghost pepper noted that the hottest chile peppers have belonged to C. chinense5. If a pod has that ring and you don't know what it is, handle it like a hot one.

Why do two sources print different numbers for one pepper?

They measure different things, and once you know which kind of figure you're reading, the gap stops looking like an error. Some sources give a range across many plants, some give a lab average from one harvest, and some round to a single friendly figure.

The ghost pepper shows you the problem well: a replicated New Mexico field trial measured an average of 1,001,304 SHU5. UF/IFAS prints 1,041,427 SHU7, and the Chile Pepper Institute rounds it to about 1 million8. All three are honest numbers for different samples, so each entry prints the source and the kind of figure beside it.

How many peppers are in the index, and can you filter them?

The index holds 45 peppers today, and the list above shows every one of them as a plain row you can read without scripts. Filter by heat band, species or origin, sort by heat or name, or search by any name a pepper sells under.

We add a pepper only when we can source at least four of its fields, such as heat, species, origin and uses. A color line or cultivar with less behind it becomes a row in its family's table instead: you'll find the NuMex habaneros on the habanero entry and the ghost pepper colors on the ghost entry. That keeps every page you open worth the click, and it's why the count grows slowly.

By the Scovidex teamUpdated Oct 18, 2026Sources checked Oct 18, 2026

Quick answers

Quick answers

Pip, the Scovidex chili mascot, ready with answers
How many types of peppers are there?

The genus Capsicum holds 43 species, and five of them are grown as crops. Inside those five sit hundreds of pod types and cultivars, from bell and jalapeño to habanero and tabasco. The index lists each one that has enough sourced data to stand on its own.3

Is a bell pepper a chili pepper?

Yes, botanically. The bell pepper is Capsicum annuum, the same species as the jalapeño and the cayenne, and UF/IFAS Extension rates it at zero Scoville units. It has the shape and the species of a chile with none of the heat.1

Is a chili pepper a fruit or a vegetable?

Botanically it is a fruit: the monograph on the genus describes the pepper pod as a berry, usually with two chambers. In the kitchen you cook it like a vegetable, or dry and grind it into a spice.3

What plant family are peppers in?

The nightshade family, Solanaceae. UC Master Gardeners list it there with the note that peppers need at least 6 hours of sun, and the genus monograph places Capsicum in the tribe Capsiceae of that family.39

What makes a chili pepper hot?

Capsaicinoids, of which capsaicin is the most abundant. The genus monograph places them in cells of the placenta and the walls between the seed chambers, which is why the white ribs carry most of the burn. A bell pepper has the same ribs, and UF/IFAS rates it at zero SHU.13

Is it chile, chili or pepper?

All three are in use. The NMSU Chile Pepper Institute uses chile for the plant and its fruit and keeps chili for the dish of chile powder, beans, tomato and beef. Pepper is the everyday English word for the same fruit.4

What is the hottest type of pepper?

Pepper X holds the Guinness record at an average of 2,693,000 SHU, confirmed in October 2023. It took the title from the Carolina Reaper, which averages about 1.64 million SHU.2

Do you need gloves to cut hot peppers?

For anything hotter than a jalapeño, gloves save you a lot of pain. University of Maryland Extension says to wear rubber gloves when you process chiles or clean out seeds, and the National Capital Poison Center lists rubber, latex or nitrile.1011

Sources

· 11
  1. 1University of Florida IFAS Extension HS-859/TR010: Pepper Production in Miami-Dade County, Floridachecked Oct 18, 2026
  2. 2Guinness World Records Pepper X dethrones Carolina Reaper as world's hottest chilli pepper2023 · checked Oct 18, 2026
  3. 3PhytoKeys 200:1-423 (Pensoft) Monograph of wild and cultivated chili peppers (Capsicum L., Solanaceae)2022 · checked Oct 18, 2026
  4. 4New Mexico State University, Chile Pepper Institute Chile Terminologychecked Oct 18, 2026
  5. 5HortScience 42(2):222-224 'Bhut Jolokia', the world's hottest known chile pepper, is a putative naturally occurring interspecific hybrid2007 · checked Oct 18, 2026
  6. 6University of Guam, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Cooperative Extension and Outreach FPP-05: Hot Pepper (Capsicum spp.), Important Crop on Guam (Tuquero, Chargualaf, Marutani)2017 · checked Oct 18, 2026
  7. 7UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions Peppers by Scoville Unitschecked Oct 18, 2026
  8. 8New Mexico State University, Chile Pepper Institute Heatchecked Oct 18, 2026
  9. 9University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Master Gardeners of Ventura County Ventura Garden to Table Series: Peppers2026 · checked Oct 18, 2026
  10. 10University of Maryland Extension Growing Peppers in a Home Garden2024 · checked Oct 18, 2026
  11. 11National Capital Poison Center (Poison Control) Capsaicin: When the chili is too hot (Amanda McDaniel-Price, RN)checked Oct 18, 2026
Coming soon

Your pocket pepper index.

Built from the same index as this site.

  • Every entry offline
  • Compare any two peppers
  • Keep a list of peppers you have tried

One email at launch. No spam.