The workhorse of the chilli world. Annuum covers the widest range of anything on this list, from sweet bells with no heat at all to jalapeños and cayennes with real bite. If you're growing your first chilli, it's almost certainly an annuum, and that's no bad thing: they're forgiving, productive, and quick to fruit compared to the slower species further down.

A few cultivars worth growing in NZ:

Cayenne — slim, red, and reliably hot at around 30,000 to 50,000 SHU. A proper all-rounder for drying, flaking, or just adding heat to a dish, and happy in a pot or a garden bed.

Jalapeño — the one everyone knows, sitting at a manageable 2,500 to 8,000 SHU. Salsa, poppers, or smoked into chipotle if you want a project. A good first hot chilli for anyone testing their tolerance.

Serrano — like a jalapeño that grew up and got serious, around 10,000 to 23,000 SHU. Brighter and crunchier than a jalapeño, and it doesn't need seeding to be usable. Cracking in fresh salsas and pico de gallo.

Hungarian Wax — bright yellow, ripening to red, in the 5,000 to 10,000 SHU range. Earns its keep pickled or sliced fresh into salads, and it's a heavy cropper.

This is where the heat lives. Chinense is home to the superhots, the habaneros, ghosts, scorpions and reapers, so if you're chasing serious burn, this is your species. Two things to know going in: chinense pods bring a fruity, floral flavour under the heat that annuums just don't have, and they're slow. Slow to germinate, slow to fruit, and worth the wait. Give them warmth and patience and they'll reward you.

A few to test your nerve:

Habanero — the gateway superhot at 100,000 to 350,000 SHU. Bright orange or red, with a fruity, almost citrusy note that makes it a hot-sauce staple rather than just a heat delivery system. A good first step up for anyone graduating from jalapeños.

Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia) — a genuine milestone at 855,000 to 1,041,000 SHU, and one of the first chillies to break the million mark. Use it sparingly, respect it completely, and don't touch your eyes afterwards. The flavour's there if you can get past the heat.

Trinidad Scorpion — named for the little tail on each pod, and running 1.2 to 1.46 million SHU. This is deep in enthusiast territory. Gloves on, kids out of the kitchen, and treat it with the respect a chilli this hot deserves.

The flavour species. If chinense is about heat, baccatum is about taste, so this is the one to grow when you want a chilli that actually brings something to the plate beyond burn. The ajís sit at a friendly to moderate heat with a fruity, tangy character that's hard to get anywhere else, which is why South American cooking leans on them so heavily. They're also generous croppers, so one healthy plant tends to keep you well supplied.

Two worth growing:

Aji Amarillo — the Peruvian classic at 30,000 to 50,000 SHU. Fruity and bright with real depth, it's the backbone of a lot of Peruvian cooking, blitzed into sauces or stirred through stews. Warm enough to notice, not so hot it drowns the flavour.

Bishop's Crown — named for its distinctive three-cornered shape, and running a wide 5,000 to 30,000 SHU. Sweet and fruity, with the flesh milder than the seed core, so how hot it lands depends on how you prep it. Good for snacking straight off the plant or slicing into a salad.

The oddball of the family — and honestly the most interesting of the lot. Pubescens comes from the Andes, and it plays by its own rules: fuzzy leaves, jet-black seeds, and flesh so thick and crisp you could bite into a pod like an apple. It also handles cold better than any other chilli species, which makes it a smart pick for the cooler ends of NZ. The trade-off is patience — it's slow out of the gate, so start early and give it a long run.

Rocoto — juicy, thick-walled, and sneaky with its heat. It doesn't hit straight away, then it does. Those meaty walls are built for stuffing (rocoto relleno is the classic for a reason), and they hold together on the grill or in a slow stew. One thing it won't do is dry — the flesh is too thick — so this one's for eating fresh.