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David E. Ross · 30-04-2009, 12:22 AM posted to rec.gardens

On 4/29/2009 8:32 AM, wrote:
Last year we had trouble finding my favorite tomato seeds which was
the "Burpee Forth of July" hybrid. After eventually finding one pack
we had our usual tomato crop which was great and throughout the season
we saved our own seeds out of a few of these tomatos. Also in the
garden we had several pepper plants. This year I plant my own saved
seeds from last year. Now I have 18 nice plants, but 3 of them have
pepper shaped leaves, the rest are normal and no I did not get pepper
seeds mixed into the tomatos. I'm real curious what these will turn
into. Is it possible a pepper and tomato can crossbreed?

All varieties of tomatoes are the species Lycopersicon esculentum. All
varieties of peppers (both hot and mild) are the species Capsicum annuum
(yes with two u's). Since they are in different genera, hybridization
between the two is very unlikely. However, both are in the Solanaceae
family (which includes potatoes and eggplant); so a hybrid might be
remotely possible. "Remotely possible" would exclude 3 instances out of
18 plants, an occurrence of over 16%.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary