On Pepper Plants and Gender

Maybe you've seen the picture that is floating around the internet.  In the picture there are two peppers.  One has three lobes and the other four with captions that claim one is female and the other is male.  It also claims that the male produces fewer seeds than the female.  This completely incorrect information. The fruit of a pepper plant (or any plant) is genderless.  The whole point of the fruit on a plant is to produce seed it does not begin the process, it is the product of it.

The flowers on a pepper plant are perfect flowers which means it has both the male (anthers) and female (stamen) reproductive organs. Peppers can self pollinate and do not need a second pepper plant around for cross pollination.

Do the "male" peppers produce fewer seeds or taste better than "female" peppers?  It all has to do with the variety of pepper.  Some have three lobes and others have four.  Peppers come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and their taste is determined by the variety of pepper rather than the amount of lobes.  The amount of seed produced also varies based on the variety and not the amount of lobes.

Here is more information on growing peppers in your home garden.