Piper retrofractum
Names: Piper chaba; Chavica officinarum; Piper chaba; Piper officinarum.
English: Javanese Long Pepper; Long Pepper; Balinese Pepper.
Botany: evergreen climbing shrub; ± 3 m tall; habitat thickets at low elevations.
Region: East Asia; southern China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Indo-China.
Use: as a spice, pickles, green peppercorn spice, seasoning in curries, preserves and pickles; more pungent than Piper nigrum, also sweeter; dye, pale brown, for cotton.
Content: 7 phenolic compounds, antioxidants; piperine; phenylpropanoid; alkylglycoside; piperoside; isoheptanol 2(S)-O-ssD-xylopyranosyl (1-6)-O-ss-D-glucopyranoside.
Sources
http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china.
Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis; 1994.
Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C.; Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi; 1986.
Philippine Medicinal Plants; http://www.stuartxchange.org/CompleteList.html.
Minor Products of Philippine Forests; Brown. W. H.; Bureau of Forestry, Manilla; 1920.
Dictionary of Economic Plants; Uphof. J. C. Th.; Weinheim; 1959.