*Humans entered the chat*
(midwest.social)
MemesYeah but that endorphin rush tho
Psilocybe Cubensis: Behold, I contain compounds that greatly impair a brain's thought patterns and perception of its surroundings. This will deter organisms from consuming my fruiting bodies, allowing them to reach full maturity and drop their spores.
Humans: Yoooo there's that mushroom that makes you see God when you eat it!
Tbf, humans are the least sensical animal on the planet.
We are genuinely freaks of nature.
The pepper in the meme is already highly domesticated. The OG pepper is the chiltepin. They grow wild here in Texas and all over Mexico, and they're a woody perennial. They're tiny but hot af and great to dry and crush up or to make hot sauce with. I can get 200 off a single plant each season.
The "OG pepper" is likely already gone: the Capsicum genus started branching off 17mya, way before we humans colonised the Americas. It was probably from the Andes as it's where you have the biggest clade diversity; including barely domesticated species, such as C. chacoense and wild ones like C. eximium:
If I had to take a guess chiltepín is probably a landrace, a wild-ish descendant of domesticated C. annuum.
20k-140k SHU is a big range, not the hottest around but it might be a bit like gambling! Habanero is around 150k so in the same ballpark.
Two varieties of Scorpion, a Peach Tiberius Mauler and a Dragon's Breath sunbathing in my backyard. Hail Capsaicin!
Well, I guess the plant got what it wished for - it has been spread around the globe by humans.
One of the most successful species of all time
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Humans: Let's add this plant's 'mammal deterrent chemical' to those bird's 'predator deterrent wings'. That'd be a tasty treat
mother nature didn't expect anybody to evolve masochism
I've got scotch bonnet, habanero, and aji rojo pepper plants in the garden. Can't wait to make hot sauce this year. bouncing back and forth
Me who got a stompy bottle of 'Da bomb beyond insanity' hot sauce for her birthday last year. 😅
Years ago one of my older cousins was looking after me and had a cabinet full of various hot sauces. Decided to challenge me to try all of them with crackers and see if either of us would give up. Neither of us gave up 😤. Da Bomb I remember quite well. Mean on its own. Taste not great, heat hits immediately with no build up. I can see why Hot Ones keeps using it lol.
It's just pure rage in your mouth 😄
I had a bottle of that stuff fall out of the fridge and break on the floor. Not a fun clean-up.
The most advantageous trait any plant or animal can evolve is being delicious to humans.
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