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My spouse and I recently purchased a house in Los Angeles. The previous owners made no mention of it, and we didn't notice it during the buying process, but we discovered a pepper plant growing in the back yard. It produces bright red wrinkled peppers that look like this:

enter image description here

Despite my better judgement, I tasted a small (1/8" x 1/8" piece) of it, and it is extremely hot. I would rate it as far hotter than a jalapeño pepper. Looking online, it looks to me like maybe it's a naga or 7-pot (aka 7-pod) pepper, but I'm not sure. Is there a way to be sure?

Some additional pictures:

The whole plant The whole plant

A Close-up of some not-yet-ripe fruits Close-up of unripe fruit

And another one showing how they transition from green to red (sometimes) enter image description here

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  • Oh, sorry! It's about 2-3 inches long.
    – user1118321
    Aug 6, 2017 at 2:28
  • I was thinking Habanero and I guess it does look a bit Habaneroish with the crinkly skin. Get this; the heat is measured in Scovilles. Jalapeno, 5000 Scovilles. Habanero, 150,000 Scovilles. READY? 7 Pot Barrackpore Pepper is....drum roll....1, 200,000 Scovilles! One of the hottest on the planet! Hope you didn't take too big of a bite!! The previous owners were pepper snobs!! I think that is a great hobby!
    – stormy
    Aug 6, 2017 at 19:02
  • Is this of just ONE PLANT? @user1118321? Look at the base and check that there is but one trunk. That top picture is looking like Habanero...while this other with a point looks like that 7Pod guy. Pnuts brought up that they could have hybridized and so you could have a 7pod-Habanero...
    – stormy
    Aug 7, 2017 at 19:45
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    @stormy It looks like there are 3 trunks coming out of the ground. However, when I see 2 peppers that look like they might be different varieties and follow them back, they're from the same trunk!
    – user1118321
    Aug 8, 2017 at 1:15
  • Thanks for looking, that might just be fertilizer imbalance. They should have so fertilizer one of these days. Not now but a month from now? Just give it a name of your own...'one hell of a hottie' or anything better than that! Bring them in and allow them to dry in a single layer on paper towels and turn them whenever you think about it. Use unwaxed unscented unflavored dental floss to string them. You've got enough for a great pepper chain to last until your next harvest. Must be nice!
    – stormy
    Aug 8, 2017 at 2:32

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Thanks for all the help! After discussing it in the comments, it appears to me to be some variety of naga pepper. The naga morich appeared to be the closest in color, size, and overall texture to me. While I'm no expert on the Scoville scale, it definitely appears to be significantly hotter than other peppers I've tried like jalapeño or habanero peppers.

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  • I was thinking a Ghost pepper (Bhut Jolokia), but it's very closely related to the Naga Morich. The fruits look pretty much the same in pictures online.
    – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
    Aug 24, 2017 at 3:12

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