Family: Piperaceae
Synonym: Piper nigrum var. hirtellosum Asokan Nair & Ravindran
Vernacular name: Kurukulak, Nallamulak
Habit: Climber
Habitat: Cultivated, forest clearings
Distribution: India: Assam, Kerala, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu
Flowering and Fruiting: March-August
Key identification features: Stout woody climbers, rooting at nodes; Leaves simple, opposite, succulent or fleshy and soft; ovate-lanceolate, entire; Flowers polygamous, usually monoecious, spikes slender, pendulous; stamens 2, 1 on each side of ovary; ovary globose; Drupes sessile, red when ripe, drying black when unripe, pyriform or globose.
Uses: Its fruits are widely used as spices in cookings as well as traditional msdicine. Fruits are used in piles, skin-diseases, fever, weakness, vertigo, coma, dyspepsia.
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