CHAPTER VIII 



PEPPERS 



THE true peppers all belong to the genus Piper, order 

 Piperaceae, the plant producing cayenne, or red pepper, 

 being not a true pepper, but belonging to the order 

 Solanaceae, and the genus Capsicum, under which name 

 it will be described. Among other spices to which the 

 name pepper is applied are Jamaica pepper, a name for 

 allspices or pimento, and Melegueta pepper, a name for 

 Grains of Paradise (Amomum melegueta), which will be 

 found under their proper headings. 



The genus Piper contains a very large number of 

 plants, nearly all climbers, scattered over the tropics, but 

 most of these, though possessing more or less of the 

 aromatic biting taste characteristic of black pepper, are 

 too weak or ill-flavoured to be used as a spice. By far 

 the most important of all these plants is the black 

 pepper (Piper nigrum, L.), and next to this comes the 

 long peppers (Piper officinarum and Piper longum) ; 

 African pepper (Piper Clu*sii) is used to a small extent, 

 and cubebs (Piper cubeba), in early days used as a spice, 

 has for many centuries been valued more as a drug. 

 Bakek (Piper miniatum), with long, slender, pungent 

 spikes, is used for chewing with betel-nut by natives, as 

 are the leaves of the betel pepper (Piper betle). Piper 

 sylvaticum, R-oxb., is an Indian pepper used chiefly as 

 a drug by natives, and a few others in different parts of 

 the world are used by natives only, for spices or drugs. 

 The kava (Piper methysticum), used to make an 



239 



