Balinese long pepper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Balinese long pepper |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Piper
|
| Species: |
retrofractum
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Piper officinarum (Miq.) C.DC. |
|
Piper retrofractum, also known as Balinese long pepper or Javanese long pepper, is a type of flowering vine. It belongs to the Piperaceae family, which also includes black pepper. People grow this plant mainly for its fruit. The fruit is usually dried and used as a spice to add flavor to food. It looks and tastes a lot like the Indian long pepper (P. longum).
What It's Called
This plant has different names around the world. In Cambodia, it's called ដីប្លី (dei-phlei). In Thailand, people know it as ดีปลี (deebplee).
In the Malay Archipelago, which includes countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, this fruit was once called cabai. But then, European traders brought chili peppers from the Americas. Chili peppers became very popular. Because of this, the name cabai started to mean chili pepper instead. To tell the difference, the original long pepper became known as cabai jawa.
About the Plant
The Balinese long pepper plant is a vine that likes to climb. Its stems are usually about 3 to 4 millimeters thick. The leaves are smooth and shaped like a spearhead. They have a pointed tip and a base that isn't perfectly even on both sides. These leaves are typically about 10 to 12 centimeters long and 3 to 3.5 centimeters wide.
This vine can have either male or female flowers on separate plants (dioecious), or sometimes both on the same plant (monoecious). The male flower spikes are about 5 centimeters long. The female flower spikes are about 4 centimeters long and 0.5 to 1 centimeter wide. The plant produces small, round berries. These berries grow very close together on the flower spike.
