FREE: McMahon's Texas Bird Pepper (8+ seeds) from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

The listing, McMahon's Texas Bird Pepper (8+ seeds) from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello has ended.

"McMahon's Texas Bird Pepper," a pretty little plant with a compact habit and showy, but tiny, orangish-red fruits described by Thomas Jefferson as "minutissimum." Jefferson obtained seed of the Bird Pepper (Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum) in 1812 and 1813 from Captain Samuel Brown, who was stationed in San Antonio, Texas. Jefferson reported sowing "Capsicum Techas" in pots and in a row in Square XII of his kitchen garden on March 26, 1814. It is a a native of southwest Texas, Mexico, and Central America. In Mexico, the flavor is described as "'arrebatado', an expression that means 'although it is extremely hot the sensation disappears easily and rapidly." The peppers were used to make pepper vinegar, pepper sauce, or pickles.

Mature plants resemble a vivacious, dwarf form of Jerusalem Cherry and are ideally suited for growing in pots. The Texas Bird Pepper forms a tidy, compact mound (eight to twelve inches) of rich green foliage capped with petite (quarter-inch), sparkling red, berry-like peppers. The potted peppers were also used as a winter table ornament or as windowsill plants.

Sow the seeds 1/4" deep indoors a month before the last Spring frost. Keep soil moist. Peppers may take up to two weeks to pop up. When weather warms (daytime soil near 80 degrees and nighttime temps above 50 degrees) you can transplant into rich prepared soil in a sunny position, about 18'' apart and, if in rows, about 24'' apart. Peppers need regular moderate watering, but water from below to avoid spreading blossom end rot.