Can you help ID these?

[Jox]

Hey all,

I used to have a drink with an old local man but unfortunately he passed away a few months ago, he used to tell me about his vege garden. Anyway today I went over to visit his younger brother & while I was there I checked out his vege garden, which is still growing well (I was surprised as the younger brother has not tended to it). I have taken some photos of some of the plants & was hoping for some help in working out there correct ID, the photos I took of the plants are to big to upload so I can only show you the leaf & the fruit, I will try to describe the plant.

#1

This one looks like a type of eggplant but the fruits are small (size 10cent piece), the plant is about knee height

#2

Chilli plant (don't no what its called) plant is waist height, chillies about 10/15 cms long.

#3

I figure this is another type of chilli, the plant is about knee height, the fruit is as round as a 20 cent piece/8cm long

#4

I got a cutting of this one when he was still alive & was told it was pineapple sage, is this the same as the fruit salad sage?

Thanks for taking the time to look, any help working these out would be appreciated.

Cheers

jox

Edited May 24, 2013 by Jox

[Bigred]

20 bucks to charity ( random donation) that Shortly can id them all .

[gerbil]

to take a guess, but am not really up on Capsicum taxonomy, let alone all the hybrids.

1) Capsicum annuum types, Black Pearl, should go red at maturity. Does look very soft though, could be photo, maybe golf ball type eggplants, but inkling towards black pearl.

2) C. annuum/frutescens types, Cayenne types

3) C. chinense types, Orange Habanero

4) No experience with, but looks like Pineapple sage, Salvia elegans; and no, 'fruit salad sage' afaik is Salvia dorisiana.

Edited May 24, 2013 by gerbil

[bogfrog]

Yeah that first one looks just like a 'black pearl' to me, i was just admiring them the other day.

And the last one is definately a pineapple sage, i used to spend hours as a kid picking those flowers and sucking the sweet nectar out of them.

Gerbil's on the money

Edited May 24, 2013 by bogfrog

[Jox]

Thanks gerbil,

I just looked up everything you said & I think bogfrog's right your on the money . The thing that spun me out was the black pearl, when I looked this up they look identical but I would of never thought it was in the capsicum family, I will be going back tomorrow to check out the fruits properly, there was some red fruit on them but I honestly thought they were the unripened fruit & the black one were.

I'm sure the man that was growing them would be more than happy if I collected seeds from these plants, so if anyone is interested in any please let me know I will definitely be get some orange habanero seeds to go with my chocolate habanero . On that subject what is the best way to collect chilli seeds? I was just going to dry the fruit & then open them to get the seeds, would this be ok? Or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks to all for the help.

Cheers

jox

Edited May 24, 2013 by Jox

[gerbil]

Probably better off to cut open a mature fruit, scrape out the seeds and dry them on something like paper towel/baking paper or just on a plate, won't really be a problem with capsicum seeds sticking to paper towel like thorough cleaned wet or pulpy tomatoes, but be aware of it if they are quite wet out of the fruit and move 'em around a little in the early stages, though some people deliberately make seeds stick to towel and plant that.

You can possibly do them in the fruit, but would potentially be a higher chance for them to go mouldy. I've done it in fruit with Withania seed before due to absolute abundance and couldn't be bothered processing a slurry or by hand, but there appears to be more blackened and dud seeds in those fruits, but sheer quantity and later success in germination didn't worry me, though I won't trade those ones for quarantine, respect and personal standard reasons ;)

Make sure they are essentially cracker dry before storing them or they will mould.