Pepper or peppercorn belongs to the family Piperaceae, genus Piper and species Piper nigrum L. Black pepper (Piper nigrum L., Piperaceae) – ‘King of spices’ – is one of the oldest spices known. Since black pepper is essentially a spice, varieties that are developed should have good quality attributes such as significant levels of oleoresins, piperine and volatile essential oil. Black pepper also has important medicinal properties. Importance is also given to caryophylline content, which is known for its antioxidant properties as well as its contribution to flavour. Chemoprofiling of black pepper accessions with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) is being done to identify genotypes with hitherto undetected compounds for their pharma- ceutical properties. The identification of newer properties adds value addition to black pepper, thus increasing the demand for its use for pharmaceutical products. The word "pepper" has its roots in the Dravidian word for long pepper, pippali. Ancient Greek and Latin turned pippali into the Latin piper, which was used by the Romans to refer both to black pepper and long pepper, as the Romans erroneously believed that both of these spices were derived from the same plant. Today's "pepper" derives from the Old English pipor. The Latin word is also the source of Romanian piper, Italian pepe, Dutch peper, German Pfeffer, French poivre, and other similar forms. In the 16th century, pepper started referring to the unrelated New World chili pepper as well. "Pepper" was used in a figurative sense to mean "spirit" or "energy" at least as far back as the 1840s; in the early 20th century, this was shortened to pep. The word pepper derives from Old English pipor, Latin piper, and Greek: πέπερι. The Greek likely derives from Dravidian pippali, meaning "long pepper". Sanskrit pippali shares the same meaning (Wikipedia, 2024). Known as the “King of spices”, black pepper is one of the most important cash crops in the world. It is a widely marketed spice as well as a plant with many medicinal properties. Black pepper is a perennial crop native to the Western Ghats of India. In its native form, it is found extensively in the evergreen forests which is a rich repository of wild relatives of black pepper. The most important and interesting aspect of black pepper diversity is its cultivar diversity. More than a hundred black pepper cultivars are known to exist in India and the main centres of variability are the southern states of India such as Kerala and Karnataka. Many molecular studies have been conducted focusing on the genetic diversity of black pepper. Diversification in plant genetic resources is very important to develop new and improved varieties with desirable traits. Most of the improved varieties released for cultivation are clonal selections from the existing landraces. Numerous surveys have found black pepper cultivars with bold berries, high pungency, oleoresin content and other desirable traits. Germplasm collection of a wide variety of landraces, natural mutants and improved varieties of black pepper will be useful for future studies and will allow genetic variation to survive without extinction. Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about 5 mm in diameter (fresh and fully mature), dark red, and contains a stone which encloses a single pepper seed. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds). In this review article on Origin, Taxonomy, Botanical Description, Genetic Diversity, Breeding and Cultivation of Black Pepper are discussed.
