IX 
LONG PEPPER 
319 
The branches, however, are stifFer and longer, light 
brown with green streaks ; the internodes, drum-stick 
shaped, are about 4 in. long, round and smooth. The 
leaves are ovate acute, the base rounded and cordate, 
the two lobes slightly unequal. They are light green, 
thinner than those of black pepper, 6 in. long by 4 in. 
wide, two pairs of nerves rising from the notch at the base ; 
between them rises the midrib, which soon breaks into 
three slender nerves ; the leaf-stalk is 1 in. long, grooved 
above. The leaves are alternate, and from the nodes 
opposing the leaves are produced the flower spikes, 
hanging down on stout pedicels 1 in. long. The flower 
spikes are 6 in. long and ^ in. thick, cylindric and blunt. 
They are of a pale glaucous green, marked with the 
spirally arranged stigmas. The greyish colour of the 
spike is caused by a fine white down which covers the 
spike. Unlike black pepper, the flowers are so closely 
compacted that it is very difficult to separate them. 
The ovaries are sunk deeply in the fleshy rachis, and are 
narrowed to a slender point, which reaches to the surface 
and bears a starlike stigma, with 3 to 5 lobes ; with each 
ovary there is on the surface of the spike a round, green, 
shield-shaped bract, quite smooth. 
Bakek is cultivated in much the same way as 
pepper, that is to say, from cuttings put alongside a 
stake, up which they eventually climb, and are tied on 
by strips of bark or rattan. They commence bearing in 
about six months, and usually last for about four or five 
years. They are seldom manured except with a little 
burnt earth, as the price of the spice is low, and it does 
not seem to be considered worth while ; but they are 
cultivated in damper and better soil than pepper, and 
under the shade of fruit trees. With a proper supply of 
manure they would doubtless last longer. The spikes 
when ripe are gathered and dried in the sun, and then 
turn black. They have a hot pungent taste, and are 
about as hot as long pepper, but with it there is also a 
bitter and rather unpleasant flavour. 
Bakek is chiefly used by natives as a medicine, and 
