The plant (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a small drupe five millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed.[4] Malabar pepper is classified under two grades known as garbled and un-garbled. The garbled variety is black in colour nearly globular with a wrinkled surface. The ungarbled variety has a wrinkled surface and the color varies from dark brown to black.[1]
^"GT Application No. 49"(PDF). Geographical Indications Journal. 19: 29. 3 October 2007. Archived from the original(PDF) on 9 August 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
^"Black Pepper". McCornick Science Institute. Retrieved 30 January 2016.