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Piper guineense

(Pepper)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Pepper, Ashanti Pepper, Benin Pepper, False Cubeb Pepper, Guinea Cubeb, West-African Black Pepper

Common Names in French:

Poivre D´anchantis, Poivre Des Achantis, Poivre Du Kissi

Common Names in German:

Aschanti-Pfeffer, Aschantipfeffer, Falscher Kubebenpfeffer

Common Names in Hausa:

Masoro

Common Names in Hungarian:

Ashanti Bors, Ashanti Bors;

Common Names in Polish:

Pieprz Aschanti

Common Names in Portuguese:

Pimenta-De-Rabo, Pimenta-De-São-Tomé Jiefo

Common Names in Russian:

Afrikanskij Perec, Afrikanskij Perets, Gvinejskij Perec, Gvinejskij Perets, Африканский перец, Гвинейский перец

Common Names in Spanish:

Pimienta De Guinea

Description

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Family Piperaceae

Herbs, shrubs , or climbers , rarely trees , usually aromatic . Vascular bundles ± scattered in transverse section in a monocotyledonlike manner. Tip of stem sometimes enclosed within a stipulelike sheath , the prophyll, sometimes adnate to petiole , absent in Peperomia. Leaves alternate, often opposite or whorled in Peperomia, simple , base often asymmetric , palmately or pinnately veined. Inflorescence a pedunculate spike, rarely grouped into an umbel, rarely a raceme (in Zippelia), leaf-opposed or axillary , rarely terminal . Flowers small, bisexual , hermaphroditic , polygamous or dioecious, nearly always sessile; bracts small, usually peltate or cupular, usually without perianth. Stamens 1-10; filaments usually free ; anthers 2-locular, distinct or connate , longitudinally dehiscent . Gynoecium 2-5-carpellate, connate; ovary superior, 1-locular, ovule 1, orthotropous ; stigmas 1-5, sessile or with very short styles. Fruit a small drupe or nutlet ; pericarp fleshy , thin or dry, sometimes with sticky papillae (in Peperomia) or glochidiate spines (in Zippelia) . Seeds with copious starchy perisperm and a minute embryo embedded in small endosperm.

About eight or nine genera and 2000-3000 species: tropical and subtropical regions, mostly in North and South America, rather fewer in Asia, a few in Africa; three genera and 68 species (36 endemic, four introduced ) in China.[1]

Genus Piper

Small trees , shrubs , subshrubs , or rarely herbs, erect or reclining , glabrous or pubescent . Leaves alternate, pubescent. Leaf blade conspicuously pinnately veined, lateral veins ascending-arching, connected by fainter, ladderlike, tertiary veins. Spikes opposite leaves, ascending-arching, densely flowered, distally drooping . Flowers sessile, borne on surface of rachis; floral bracts fringed with whitish hairs ; stamens 2[-6]; stigmas [2-]3[-4]. Fruits sessile, oblong (inversely pyramidal-3-angled in P. auritum ) ; beak minute.

Species 1000: primarily tropics and subtropics.

This genus includes Piper nigrum Linnaeus, the source of black pepper and white pepper.[2]

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,676 meters (0 to 5,499 feet).[3]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Piper

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 44 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

P. aduncum (Higuillo De Hoja Menuda) · P. aduncum var. exotum (Spiked Pepper) · P. amalago (Higuillo De Limon) · P. amalago var. amalago (Spanish-Elder) · P. amalago var. ceanothifolium (Spanish-Elder) · P. amalago var. medium (Spanish-Elder) · P. angustifolium (Pepper) · P. arborescens (Lanyu Pepper) · P. attenuatum (Oval-Leaved Pepper Plant) · P. aurantiacum (Orange Pepper Tree) · P. auritum (False Kava-Kava) · P. auritum 'Hoja Santa' (Hoja Santa Pepper) · P. austrosinense (South China Pepper) · P. bambusifolium (Bamboo-Leaved Pepper Plant) · P. betel (Betel Pepper) · P. betle (Betel Leaf) · P. blattarum (Moth Pepper) · P. boehmeriifolium (False Nettle-Leaved Pepper Plant) · P. cubeba (Cubeb) · P. dilatatum (Higuillo) · P. distachyon (Montane Peperomia) · P. glabrescens (Guyanese Pepper) · P. guineense (Pepper) · P. hainanense (Hainan Pepper) · P. hispidum (Jamaican Pepper) · P. jacquemontianum (Caracas Pepper) · P. kadsura (Kadzura Pepper) · P. kadzura (Japanese Pepper) · P. longifolium (Pepper) · P. longum (Indian Long Pepper) · P. magnificum (Lacquered Pepper) · P. magnoliifolium (Spoonleaf Peperomia) · P. marginatum (Marigold Pepper) · P. methysticum (Kava) · P. nigrum (Black Pepper) · P. ornatum (Celebes Pepper) · P. pereskiifolium (Spotted Trunkfish) · P. ponapense (Pepper) · P. puberulum (Downy Pepper) · P. retrofractum (Balinese Pepper) · P. sarmentosum (Chaa-Plu) · P. seychellarum (Seychelles Pepper) · P. swartzianum (Spanish Elder) · P. wichmannii (False Kava (Vanuatu))

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 18, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Yung-chien Tseng, Nianhe Xia & Michael G. Gilbert "Piperaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 110. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Piper". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 549.930 meters (1,804.232 feet), Standard Deviation = 731.100 based on 61 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012