after ingestion. A measurement called the Scoville scale has been created to describe the hotness of peppers and other foods. Traditional medicine Hot peppers are used in traditional medicine as well as food in Africa. English botanist John Lindley described C. annuum in his 1838 Flora Medica thus: In Ayurveda, C. annuum is classified as follows: Guna (properties) – ruksha (dry), laghu (light) and tikshna (sharp) Rasa (taste) – katu (pungent) Virya (potency) – ushna (hot) Ornamental Some cultivars grown specifically for their aesthetic value include the U.S. National Arboretum's 'Black Pearl' and the 'Bolivian Rainbow'. Ornamental varieties tend to have unusually colored fruit and foliage with colors such as black and purple being notable. All are edible, and most (like 'Royal Black') are hot. Host plant The potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella) is an oligophagous insect that prefers to feed on plants of the family Solanaceae such as pepper plants. Female P. operculella use the leaves to lay their eggs and the hatched larvae will eat away at the mesophyll of the leaf. Gallery See also List of Capsicum cultivars Paprika Chili pepper References Further reading External links annuum Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Medicinal plants of North America Medicinal plants of South America Plants used in Ayurveda Chili peppers