Pepper is native to South Asia, specifically India. It was first found in the Western Ghats, India. It was introduced to Indonesia by traders from India. The central producing regions in Indonesia are Lampung, Bangka, and Belitung. This plant is widely utilized worldwide as a cooking spice and an ingredient in health and body-warming drinks. Pepper is also known to have medicinal properties.

Grows well in lowland to medium altitude areas, from 3–1,000 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.), with a rainfall of 2,000–3,000 mm/year, air temperature of 20–34°C, air humidity of 60–93%, soil pH of 5.5–6.5, and requires sufficient sunlight, between 8–10 hours per day.

• Root: Taproot, but resembles a fibrous root system; small in size but not long.

• Stem: Slightly flattened, segmented, internode length is 7–12 cm, with stolons (main stems). Branches emerge from the leaf axils and branch nodes.

• Leaves: Simple (single), oval-shaped (ovate), green, pointed tip. The upper surface is glossy, the lower surface is not glossy.

• Flower: Compound, each raceme consists of 150 flowers. The flower crown (calyx) is green, the corolla (petals) is yellowish-green.

• Fruit: Round, soft skin, attached to the raceme, dark green (young) and red (ripe).

• Seed: Globose, 3–4 mm in diameter, hard.

• Propagation: Vegetatively (cuttings) and generatively (seeds).

Maintains skin and intestinal health, helps facilitate the respiratory system, prevents stomach ulcers, controls blood pressure, lowers the risk of cancer, treats flu symptoms, post-meal vomiting, and internal heat (panas dalam), treats impotence, menstrual pain, muscle aches, rheumatism, and malaria.

Amylum, resin, saponins, phenolic amides, enolic acids, flavonoids, wisasine, sesquiterpenes, caryophyllene, limonene, essential oils (chavicine, alkaloid piperine, piperidine, methylpyrroline).