Black Pearl: Beauty With a Bite
By Laura
McGinnis
April 26, 2006 A new culinary ornamental pepper bred
by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists in Beltsville, Md., is earning accolades in the gardening community.
The eye-catching Black Pearl, released in 2005, was honored as a 2006
All-America Selections
(AAS) winner. The award recognizes new flower and vegetable varieties that
demonstrate “superior garden performance” in trials conducted
throughout the country.
With moderately shiny black leaves and glossy fruits that ripen from black
to red, Black Pearl offers a temptation few pepper enthusiasts can resist. ARS
plant geneticists
John
Stommel, of the Plant Sciences Institute’s
Vegetable
Laboratory, and
Robert
Griesbach, of the
U.S.
National Arboretum’s
Floral
and Nursery Plants Research Unit, collaborated to breed this popular
prize-winner.
How does a plant become an AAS winner?
The first step in breeding any new pepper cultivar is to select the desired
characteristics -- in this case, dark leaves and densely clustered, round,
black fruits.
It took years to refine Black Pearl’s striking appearance and spicy
flavor. Once perfected, it underwent hundreds of trials to determine its
response to different environments. Stommel and Griesbach tested Black Pearl
with help from private-sector cooperator PanAmerican Seed Company, Elburn, Ill.,
which entered the plant in the AAS competition.
In trials, Black Pearl thrived in a variety of environments throughout the
country. In addition, it resisted the ravages of drought, as well as of many
insects and fungi. Robust, attractive and tasty, Black Pearl was a natural
winner -- and the AAS judges weren’t the only ones to think so. Since it
went on the market, more than 2 million seeds have been sold.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency.
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