Scientific name Piper nigrun L.

Alias white pepper, black pepper

Family Piperaceae pepper, Piper Linn.

Characteristics and PropertiesPerennial evergreen climbing lianas, shallow-rooted crops, with suborbicular vines that cork up and then turn brown, and terminal and axillary buds on the main vines. The branches and the fruiting branches that arise from the main vine and the branches that arise from it constitute the branching sequence; the leaves are elliptic, ovate or heart-shaped, entire, simple and alternate, with dark green foliage; the flower spikes are inserted on the opposite side of the leaf blades at the nodes of the branches, and the cultivars are mostly monoecious, and a few are dioecious; the fruits are globose, sessile, and monocarpous, and are yellowish-green and reddish in color when they are ripe; the blooming period of pepper in China is generally 3-5, 5-7, 8-11, 5-7, 8-11 and 10-15, but the fruit is not as large as it used to be, so it is a very small plant.

Pepper cultivated in the altitude of 500m below the flat and gently sloping land, to the soil layer is deep, loose, well-drained, pH value of 5.5 ~ 7.0, rich in organic matter of the soil is most suitable. Pepper is afraid of cold, drought, stains and wind. Pepper planting areas in the world average annual temperature of roughly 25 ~ 27 ℃, the average monthly temperature difference of no more than 3 ~ 7 ℃, in China, the average annual temperature of 21 ℃ frost-free areas can grow and blossom normally, and the average annual temperature of 25 ~ 27 ℃ is the most suitable; pepper is most avoiding stagnant water, but the requirement of abundant and uniformly distributed rainfall; pepper on the requirements of light varies depending on the species and age, the majority of cultivated species do not need shade.

Distribution status pepper is native to the tropical rainforests of the Western Ghats on the southwest coast of India. It was cultivated in the fourth century BC. In the Middle Ages by the Portuguese into the Malay Archipelago, and thereafter by the Dutch into Sri Lanka, Indonesia, etc. In the middle of the 19th century, Indochina also began to cultivate, has now spread to Asia, Africa, Latin nearly 20 countries and regions. The main places of origin are India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil, the main consumer countries for the United States, Germany, France. Our country in 1951 from Malaysia in Hainan Island, Qionghai County, test planting, 1956, Guangdong, Yunnan, Guangxi, Fujian and other provinces and regions have been introduced to test planting success, the cultivation area has been expanded to 25 degrees north latitude latitude.

The pepper tree is designated as the national tree of Liberia.

The role of spices, antiseptic, but also as a condiment; can be extracted piperine, piperine, piperine oleoresin A, B, C and other alkaloids and volatile oils; can be used as medicine, sedative, warming the middle and dispersing the cold, the next gas, stomach, pain, anti-inflammatory, detoxification, etc., the main treatment of wind-cold colds and flu, epigastric and abdominal cold and pain, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite and other diseases.

Pepper medicinal use

SourceThis product is the dried nearly ripe or ripe fruit of pepper Piper nigrum L. of the pepper family. Harvested in late fall to the next spring when the fruit is dark green, dried in the sun, for black pepper; harvested when the fruit becomes red, impregnated with water for a few days, rubbing off the pulp, dried in the sun, for white pepper.

Traits of black pepper Globular, 3.5-5mm in diameter, black-brown surface, with raised reticulate wrinkles, apical stylar remnants, the base of the scar from the fruit axis off. Hard, exocarp peelable, endocarp grayish white or yellowish. The section is yellowish white, powdery, with small voids. Aromatic, pungent flavor.

Taste and attribution of pungent, hot. Attributed to the stomach and large intestine meridians.

Functions and IndicationsWarming the middle Jiao, dispersing cold, lowering qi and eliminating phlegm. It is used for vomiting with stomach cold, abdominal pain and diarrhea, loss of appetite, epilepsy and phlegm.