Spiked Pepper

Overview

Spiked pepper is native to the West Indies and tropical America. A very popular herbal remedy, the plant is commonly gathered from the wild and is sold locally. Containing safrol, which has been used successfully in making powerful insecticides, fragrances, soaps and detergent products. The whitish wood is medium hard, brittle. Although small, it can be used for basic construction, fuel, stakes and fences.

Vernacular Names

Seuseureuhan (Indonesian), Aperta-João (Brazilian), Platanillo de Cuba (Cuba), Pfefferstrauch (German), Cordoncillo blanco (Mexican), Cordoncillo (Spanish), Pimenta-longa (Portuguese), dan Yaqona ni Onolulu (Fijian).

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Agroecology

Tropical plants are found mainly at altitudes of 0-1,000 m but in some places, they extend beyond 2,000 m. It thrives in areas with an average annual rainfall of 1,500 - 4,000 mm or more. This plant is quite tolerant of shade. It colonizes most soil types, apart from excessively well-drained soils (where it only grows at the upper end of the rainfall range), dry soils, and salty soils.

Morphology

• Roots - short silt roots, often with prop-roots and often branching at or near the base.
• Stems - 10 cm or more in diameter. Branches are erect, but with drooping twigs and swollen, purplish nodes, foliage and twigs aromatic.
• Leaves - alternate, distichous, elliptic, 12-22 cm long, shortly petiolate; lamina scabrid above, with sunken nerves, softly hairy beneath.
• Flowers - inflorescence a leaf-opposed, curved spike on a 12-17 cm peduncle, white to pale, yellow, turning green with maturity. Flowers crowded in regular transverse ranks. Perianth absent; usually 4 stamens.
• Fruits - a 1-seeded berry, obovoid, 0.8-1 mm in diameter, compressed into greyish, wormlike spikes.
• Seeds - brown to black, 0.7 -1.25 mm long, compressed, with a reticulate surface.

Cultivation

• By seeds - germination occurred 50 days after imbibition.
• By cuttings -The massive propagation is more efficient by cuttings, due to the slow growth stage in seedlings and by division of the suckers.

Chemical Constituents

Flavonoids, sequiterpenes, monoterpenes, heterocycles, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids, and benzenoids.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• The leaves are antimicrobial, antibacterial, astringent, carminative, diuretic, mild aromatic tonic, stimulant, stomachic, and internal styptic.
• The leaves are widely used as a remedy for all types of digestive disorders including, vomiting, dyspepsia, gastric ulcers, intestinal gas, and even stomach cancer. It is also used in the treatment of kidney stones, urinary tract infections, cystitis, urethritis, leucorrhoea, vaginitis, and various venereal diseases such as gonorrhea and trichomonas. They are also employed for various upper respiratory conditions such as bronchitis, pulmonary hemorrhages, pleurisy, pneumonia, colds and flu, and tonsillitis.
• The plant has various uses in traditional medicine, in Peru used for treating diarrhea and in Brazil for wound-healing properties. 
• In Papua New Guinea the leaves extract is used for dressing sores, the barks and roots extract for diarrhea, dysentery, and cough and the bark and fruit are used for toothaches.