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Piper longum
Also called Indian long pepper, Jaborandi Pepper
Long pepper is a climbing vine whose dried flower spikes, with many tiny fruits, are used as a spice that tastes like black pepper but sweeter and hotter. It is grown mainly for its fruit, and it needs warm, humid, sheltered conditions.
Long pepper (Piper longum), sometimes called Indian long pepper or pippali, is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Long pepper has a taste similar to, but is sweeter and more pungent than, its close relative Piper nigrum – from which black, green and white pepper are obtained.
The fruit of the pepper consists of many minuscule fruits – each about the size of a poppy seed – embedded in the surface of a flower spike that closely resembles a hazel tree catkin. Like Piper nigrum, the fruits contain the compound piperine, which contributes to their pungency. Another species of long pepper, Piper retrofractum, is native to Java, Indonesia. The fruits of this plant are often confused with chili peppers, which belong to the genus Capsicum, originally from the Americas.
Higuillo de hoja menuda · Vera cruz pepper · Betel · Madagascan Wild Pepper · Javanese Long Pepper · Cubeb · Piper darienense · Pepper · Kadsura Pepper · Kava · Black pepper · Javanese long pepper
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Long pepper by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
