2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

Questions and Answers: 2015

Question: i have a question about bell peppers,why are they hollow? why do they have a paper-thin silicone like skin but …

• Question

  i have a question about bell peppers,why are they hollow? why do they have a paper-thin silicone like skin but on the inside it's dense thick and crunchy? are there pores in the inside for them to breathe ? if not how do they breathe? when you cut it into sections horizontally there are 3 main points where the 3 chambers meet and they get bigger or smaller the more you cut it, why is that? lastly are there any more facts you can give me about how it supports itself or anything else you may know?

  Answer

  Dear Sarayassin, I can't answer you as to why green peppers are hollow--that is simply the direction that was taken by those who domesticated the wild species that led to the cultivated pepper. The different layers of peppers are for different purposes (the exterior layer is to prevent desiccation). The three chambers are from the carpels that are fused together into one compound ovary. Each one of the chambers represents a carpel that was historically (evolutionarily speaking) separate in the ancestor. I hope this helps.