Piperaceae

Piperaceae
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous – recent[1][2]
Piper nigrum, from Koehler (1887)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Piperales
Family: Piperaceae
Giseke[3]
Subfamilies
  • Verhuellioideae Trelease ex Samain & Wanke 2008
  • Zippelioideae (Miquel 1840) Samain & Wanke 2008
  • Piperoideae Arnott 1832
Synonyms
  • Peperomiaceae Smith 1981

The Piperaceae (/ˌpɪpəˈreɪʃiː/), also known as the pepper family, are a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,600 currently accepted species in five genera. The vast majority of species can be found within the two main genera: Piper (2,171 species) and Peperomia (over 1,000 species).[4]

Members of the Piperaceae may be small trees, shrubs, or herbs. The distribution of this group is best described as pantropical.

The best-known species, Piper nigrum, yields most peppercorns that are used as spices, including black pepper, although its relatives in the family include many other spices.[5] The family Piperaceae is unrelated to the family Solanaceae, which includes bell peppers and chili peppers, which are so named due to Europeans taking part in the Columbian exchange mistakenly believing the spicy fruits were a variety of the black pepper plant.[6]

  1. ^ "Piperales". www.mobot.org. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  2. ^ Martínez, Camila; Carvalho, Mónica R.; Madriñán, Santiago; Jaramillo, Carlos A. (2015). "A Late CretaceousPiper(Piperaceae) from Colombia and diversification patterns for the genus". American Journal of Botany. 102 (2): 273–289. doi:10.3732/ajb.1400427. ISSN 0002-9122. PMID 25667080.
  3. ^ Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III" (PDF). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (2): 105–21. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. hdl:10654/18083. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  4. ^ Stevens, Peter F. (2001). "Home". Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, Version 9. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  5. ^ Ravindran, P. N. (2000). Black Pepper, Piper nigrum. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Harwood Acadiic. p. 553.
  6. ^ "Capsicum annuum - Britannica Encyclopedia". Britannica. 28 May 2023.