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Piper longum L., Piperaceae, the long pepper, is an important medicinal plant. It occurs occasionally in the wild in the hotter states of India, but is widely cultivated for medicinal use.
The roots and fruits are used in diseases of the respiratory tract. The alkaloids effect ciliary movements and suppress the cough reflex. It is a counter irritant and analgesic in muscular pains and inflammation. The fruit powder is snuffed in coma and drowsiness, as sedative in insomnia and epilepsy. It is a carminative, cholagogue in obstructions of the bile duct and gall bladder. Also used as an emmenagogue and an abortifacient.
The fruits are used as spice and as preserves and pickles.
The alkaloids piperine and piplartine, triacontane, dihydrostigmasterol and a steoid have beel isolated from different parts of the plant. An essential oil and a sesquiterpene are also known from the plalnt.
The climbing bush (Piper longum1), the light yellow flowers on long inflorescences and developing frits (Piper longum2) and the dried fruits (Piper longum3) are illustrated.
Long pepper fruits have an uncanny resemblance to the much larger fruits of Scindapsus officinalis, a medicinal plant belonging to a very distant taxonomic group, the Araceae. The vernacular names, pippali for Piper longum and gajapippali for Scindapsus officinalis, add to the confusion (see Scindapsus officinalis1).