420 Handbook of herbs and spices
25.1 Introduction
Long pepper commonly called ‘Pippal’ in Sanskrit, is an important medicinal spice.
The long pepper of commerce is derived from more than one species. The Indian
long pepper is derived from Piper longum L and Piper peepuloides Wall. while the
much longer Indonesian or Java long pepper is derived from P. retrofractum Vahl.
The products of these species are used for the same purposes, though they vary in
their effectiveness. The products of Piper longum and P. retrofractum are often not
clearly distinguished in the spice trade. The spikes of Piper peepuloides and sometimes
another related species with globose spikes P. mullesua Ham. occur mixed with
commercial P. longum (CSIR, 1969; Pruthi, 1976).
25.1.1 Vernacular/regional names
English: Long pepper; Bengal pepper, Java pepper, Balinese pepper; Unani: Pipal;
Amharic: Timiz; Arabian: Dardildil; Persian: Filfilidaraz, filfildray, Maghzpipal, Pilpil,
Pipal; Nepalese: Pipal, Piplamol, Popal; Malaya: Pit poot; Burmese: Peik-khyen,
Peikchin; Malay: Lada, Mula-gu, Cuttaterpali, Chabai; Hungarian: Bali bors, Bengali
bors; Sinhalese: Tippali; Greek: Pepper makron; Italian: Pepe lungo; Indonesian
(Java): Cabe bali, Cabe jawa; Lada panjang; Mexican: Tlathancuaye; Potuguese:
Pimenta longa; Dutch: Langwerpige peper; Duk.: Pipaliana; Swedish: Lang peppar;
German: Langer Pfeffer, Stangenpfeffer, Balinesischer Pfeffer, Jaborandi Pfeffer,
Bengalischer Pfeffer; French: Poivre long, Racindes de; Spanish: Pimentera larga;
Khmer: Morech ansai; Laotian: Sa li pi, I lo; Japanese: Hihatsu; Chinese: Pipo, Bi ba;
Estonian: Pikk pipar; Thai: Dee plee, Phrik hang, Dipli chuak; Tibetan: Dro-sman;
Hindi: Pipli, Pipal, Pimpli, Piplamul, Pipulmul; Sanskrit: Chanchala, Chapala, Granthika,
Kana, Kati, Kola, Korangi, Krishna, Krishnapippali, Magadhi, Pippali, Tiktatandula,
Vaidehi; Urdu: Pipul; Bengali: Piplamor, Piplamul, Pipli, Pipul; Assami: Pipoli;
Gujarathi: Piper, Pipli, Pipara; Marathi: Pimpli, Mothi, Piple; Punjabi: Darfilfil,
Filfildaraz, Maghzpipal, Pipal; Sindhi: Filfildray, Tippili, Fil; Uriya: Baihehi, Krykola,
25 Long pepper..............................................................................................
K. N. Babu and M. Divakaran, Indian Institute of Spices Research, India;
P. N. Ravindran, Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, India; and
K. V. Peter, Kerala Agricultural University, India