Piper nigrum

Piper nigrum L.

Family     : Piperaceae

Common Name  : കുരുമുളക്(Mal)

          काली मिर्च  (Hin)

                                  Black pepper, (Eng)

Black pepper is a flowering vine, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Black pepper is native to South India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. The pepper plant is a perennial woody vine growing to 4 m in height on supporting trees, poles, or trellises. It is a spreading vine, rooting readily where trailing stems touch the ground.

Glabrous climbers. Leaves simple, alternate, to 16 x 10 cm, ovate, acuminate at apex, acute, rounded or truncate at base, 7-nerved, nervules subparallel; petiole to 2.5 cm long. Male spikes slender, 10-15 cm long; female spikes to 17 cm long; peduncles to 2.5 cm long; bracts united forming a cup below the flower. Flowers closely placed; stamens 2. Fruits Drupes 5 mm across, globose, smooth, fellow at first turns to deep red; stigmas 3-5, recurved.