AMSEED American Seed Intelligence Platform
AMSeed · American Seed Intelligence Platform https://amseed.com/varieties/bhut-jolokia-pepper
Pepper variety

Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper)

Open-pollinated pepper

Breeding
Open-pollinated
Growth habit
-
Days to maturity
100-120 days
2 sources, 1 independent · basis unstated
Fruit
red
Weight
-
Bred by
-

Grey captions say what stands behind that particular figure. Breeding, growth habit and fruit characters carry no caption because they rest on the record's sources as a whole rather than citing their own; closing that gap is ordinary outstanding work, not a finished job.

The species here is supported by Peppers: Vegetable and Spice Capsicums. These claims name their own evidence rather than resting on the record's source list as a whole, because a species that distinguishes a variety, or an attribution to a breeding programme, is worth being able to check on its own.

Also known as

NameKindNote
Ghost Pepper Trade name The English-language market name.
Naga Jolokia Synonym

Commonly confused with

These are different varieties. A name shared between them does not make them the same seed.

Origin & history

From Assam and neighboring states in northeast India, and the first pepper confirmed above one million Scoville units, certified by Guinness in 2007. Genetic work shows it is largely Capsicum chinense with an interspecific contribution, which is why its classification has been argued over.

Measurements

MeasurementValueContext
Days to maturity 100-120 days Consensus range across the cited sources, which include both independent references and commercial catalogs.
Scoville heat 800,000-1,050,000 SHU Measured at one million Scoville heat units in replicated trials at Las Cruces. RAPD analysis in the same study confirms C. chinense with probable genetic introgression from C. frutescens, so the species assignment here is a simplification of a hybrid origin.

Against the rest of the pepper database

Where this variety sits among every pepper we hold a comparable figure for. Position is not merit: earlier is not better than later, and hotter is not better than milder. Only cultivar-level figures are compared, never trial results, and maturity is only ranked against figures counted the same way.

Days to maturity 100-120 days · ranked at its midpoint, 110
55 median 82.5 155

later than 87% of the 252 peppers we hold a figure for. None of these figures state whether they are counted from sowing or from transplant, so they are ranked against each other on the assumption that suppliers use one convention, which is not something any of them says.

Scoville heat 800000-1050000 SHU · ranked at its midpoint, 925,000
0 median 5,000 1,900,000

hotter than 96% of the 249 peppers we hold a figure for.

Traits

Disease resistance

No documented disease resistance, typical of heirlooms and older open-pollinated varieties. See pepper diseases for the cultural playbook that fills the gap.

Related varieties

Explore all pepper varieties · compare any two · when to plant it where you are

Sources & References

Evidence: 5 sources, including 4 independent references.

  1. Chile Pepper Institute research and variety releases · New Mexico State University, University or Government
  2. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog · Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., Seed Catalog
  3. Peppers: Vegetable and Spice Capsicums · CABI (2012), Scholarly Reference
  4. 'Bhut Jolokia' - The World's Hottest Known Chile Pepper is a Putative Naturally Occurring Interspecific Hybrid · HortScience 42(2):222-224 (2007), Peer-Reviewed
  5. 'Trinidad Moruga Scorpion' Pepper is the World's Hottest Measured Chile Pepper at More Than Two Million Scoville Heat Units · HortTechnology 22(4) (2012), Peer-Reviewed