Black Pepper
Piper nigrum
Also known as Common pepper, Pepper
About Black Pepper
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about 5 mm (1⁄4 in) in diameter (fresh and fully mature), dark red, and contains a stone which encloses a single pepper seed. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds). Black pepper is native to Southeast or South Asia. Ground, dried, and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine.
Description adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Piper nigrum
- Genus
- Piper
- Family
- PIPERACEAE
- Habit
- Climber
- Habitat
- Evergreen and semi-evergreen and also cultivated
- Native to
- India
- Distribution
- India, Sri Lanka and cultivated elsewhere
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Local Names
- Hindi
- काली मिर्च Kali mirch, ऊषण Ushan, काली मिर्च
- Nepali
- मरिच, कालो मरिच
- Bengali
- কালা মরিচ Kala marich, গোল মরিচ
- Tamil
- மரிசம் Maricam, மிளகு Milaku, மிளகு
- Telugu
- మరిచము Marichamu, మిరెము Miriyamu, నల్ల మిరియాలు
- Kannada
- ಕರಿ ಮೆಣಸು Kari menasu, ಕರಿಮೆಣಸು, ಕಾಳುಮೆಣಸು
- Malayalam
- കുരുകുളക് Kurukulak, നല്ലമുളക് Nallamulak, കുരുമുളക്
- Marathi
- मरीच Marich, काळी मिरची Kali Mirachi, मिरवेल Miravel
Piperaceae
Pepper family
Black Pepper belongs to the Piperaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the PIPERACEAE family →Snap it. Know it.
Point your camera at black pepper or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.