Piper.

Piper amalago Linn. Piperaceae.

West Indies. Brownel says the seeds may replace pepper for seasoning.

Piper betle Linn. Betle Pepper.

East Indies and Malay. The leaves are chewed with betel-nut by the Malays and other Indian races.

Piper capense Linn. f. Staart Pepper.

South Africa. The pepper is used by the country people in Kaffraria as a spice.

Piper chaba Hunter.

Indian Archipelago. The long pepper which is imported by the Dutch is the fruit-spike, collected and dried before it reaches maturity.

Piper clusii C. DC.

Tropical Africa. This spice was imported as early as 1364 to Rouen and Dieppe from Liberia under the name pepper. In tropical western Africa, it is used as a condiment.

Piper cubeba Linn. f. Cubeb Pepper.

Malay, Java and Penang. Pereira states that as early as 1305 the product of this tree was used as a condiment in London, although now it is considered a medicine.

Piper longum Linn. Long Pepper.

A shrub indigenous to Malabar, Ceylon, eastern Bengal, Timor and the Philippines and cultivated along the eastern and western coasts of India. Its fruits consist of very small, one-sided berries or grains embedded in a pulpy matter, green when immature, and becoming red as it ripens. The fruit is gathered in the green state to form pepper, as it is then hotter than when perfectly ripe. This is the long pepper of commerce.

Piper methysticum Forst. f.

Sandwich Islands and the Fiji Islands. The root of this plant is used to form an intoxicating drink under the name of ava, kava or kawa. The root is chewed, thrown into a bowl and water is poured on. It is then strained through cocoa-nut husks, when it is ready for use.

Piper nigrum Linn. Pepper Tree.

Indigenous to the forests of Travancore and Malabar, whence it has been introduced into Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Malay peninsula, Siam, the Philippines and the West Indies. This tree furnishes the black pepper of commerce which is the berries gathered before they are perfectly ripe and dried. The white pepper is formed from the decorticated fruits. It is frequently mentioned by Roman writers of the Augustan age and, in the fifth century, Attila demanded 3000 pounds of pepper as a part of the ransom of the city of Rome. An account of the growing of pepper in India is given by Mandeville, who traveled there in 1322-1356.

Piper sarmentosum Roxb. Long Pepper.

East Indies and Malay. The fruit, according to Wight, is gathered and sold as long pepper.

Piper sylvaticum Roxb. Mountain Long Pepper.

East Indies and Burma. The spikes, both green and ripe, are used in Bengal as long pepper.

Piper umbellatum Linn.

Tropics. The leaves may be boiled and eaten.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.