Piper sylvaticum explained

Piper sylvaticum is a climber in the Piperaceae, or pepper, family. It is found in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, and in Zhōngguó/China. The fruits are used in medicinal products.

Description

A herbaceous, dioecious climber that possesses stolons. The stems are finely powdery pubescent when young, and become ridged and furrowed when mature.^[1] It has globose drupes about 3mm in diameter. Flowers in August and September in Zhōngguó/China, in the Manas National Park of northwest Assam, flowering and fruiting occur from August to October,^[2] while in Bangladesh flowers and fruits appear from May to September. This species is distinguished anatomically by having very finely (magnification needed) powdered pubescent leaves.^[3] Other distinctive features, differentiating the species from other Piper species in Bangladesh, is yellow flowers and deeply cordate and lobed leaf bases at a macroscopic level, while bicollateral leaf vascular bundles, and para- and tetracytic stomata were identified as distinctive at microscopic anatomical level.^[4]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by William Roxburgh in 1820.^[5]

Distribution

The plant is native to Bangladesh and the Eastern Himalaya region. The Flora of China^[1] warns that the application of this name to Chinese plants is unclear, however it states that the climber is found in Tibet (see also^[6]) and South Yunnan, as well as Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.

Habitat and ecology

The vine grows in wet places within forests up to 800m in Zhōngguó/China.^[1] It occurs in sub-Himalayan semi-evergreen forest in the Manas National Park of northwestern Assam.^[2] Shaded areas of the forest bed is a preferred habitat in Bangladesh.^[4]

Vernacular names

Amongst the Monpa people of Mêdog County in southeastern Tibet the plant is referred to as pang-ser.^[6] In Standard Chinese, the plant is given the name 长柄胡椒, chang bing hu jiao.^[1] An English language vernacular name is mountain long pepper.^[7] Pahari pipul (Hindi),^[8] pahaari peepal (folk medicine), Pahari-pipoli (Assamese),^[7] and vana-pippali (Ayurveda)^[8] are some of the names in India. In Bangladesh the vine is referred to as pahari pipul or bon pan (Bengali), borongpatui (Tipuri languages), or bulpan.^[4]

Uses

In the Indian subcontinent the leaves are used as vegetables, and the roots are used in indigenous medicine as a cure for snake poison and to treat tumours.^{[9] [10]}

The mashed leaves are use as an anti-inflammatory by the Monpa people of Mêdog County in southeastern Tibet.^[6]

Adnan et al.s^[8] work on the bioactivity of the species cites wide traditional medicine uses in the native countries of the plant. The leaves, stems, roots, fruits, and seeds are used to treat a variety of diseases, including rheumatic pain, headaches, chronic cough, cold, asthma, piles, diarrhea, wounds in lungs, tuberculosis, indigestion, dyspepsia, hepatomegaly, and pleenomegaly. The root is specifically used as a carminative, while the aerial parts have diuretic actions. Adnan et al. found that P. sylvaticum is bioactive.

Further reading

• Grierson, A.J.C. & Long, D.G. (1984). Flora of Bhutan 1(2): 189–462. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.
• Kress, W.J., DeFilipps, R.A., Farr, E. & Kyi, D.Y.Y. (2003). A Checklist of the Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Climbers of Myanmar Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45: 1–590. Smithsonian Institution.
• Mostaph, M.K. & Uddin, S.B. (2013). Dictionary of plant names of Bangladesh, Vasc. Pl.: 1–434. Janokalyan Prokashani, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
• Mukherjee, P.K. (2018). Nomenclatural notes on Piper Linn. (Piperaceae) from India II Phytotaxa 338: 17–32.
• Newman, M., Ketphanh, S., Svengsuksa, B., Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Armstrong, K. (2007). A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR: 1–394. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.
• Sarder, N.U. & Hassan, M.A. (eds.) (2018). Vascular flora of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts 2: 1–1060. Bangladesh National Herbarium, Dhaka.
• Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (1999). Flora of China 4: 1–453. Science Press (Beijing) & Missouri Botanical Garden Press (St. Louis).

Notes and References

1. Web site: 27. Piper sylvaticum Roxburgh, Fl. Ind. 1: 158. 1820. . Flora of China . eFloras.org . 2 January 2021.
2. Baro . D . Borthakur . S K . Climbing Angiosperms of Manas National Park, Assam: Diversity and Ethnobotany . Bioscience Discovery . 2017 . 8 . 2, April . 158–165 . 3 January 2021.
3. Web site: FOC; Family List; FOC Vol. 4 ; Piperaceae 2. Piper Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 28. 1753. . Flora of China . eFloras.org . 2 January 2021.
4. Shethi . Kishwar Jahan . Rashid . Parveen . Begum . Momtaz . Rahman . M. Oliur . Morphoanatomical profile of five species of Piper L. from Bangladesh and its taxonomic significance . Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. . 2019 . 26 . 1, June . 57–68 . 10.3329/bjpt.v26i1.41917 . 3 January 2021. free .
5. Web site: Piper sylvaticum Roxb., Fl. Ind. (Carey & Wallich ed.) 1: 158 (-159) (1820). . International Plant Name Index (IPNI) . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . 2 January 2021.
6. Shan Li . Yu Zhang . Yongjie Guo . Lixin Yang . Yuhua Wang . Monpa, memory, and change: an ethnobotanical study of plant use in Mêdog County, South-east Tibet, China . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine . 2020 . 16 . Article number: 52020 . 5 . 10.1186/s13002-020-0355-7 . 32000826 . 6993401 . free .
7. Web site: Mountain Long Pepper . Flowers of India . 2 January 2021.
8. Adnan . Md. . Chy . Md. Nazim Uddin . and 8 others . Comparative Study of Piper sylvaticum Roxb. Leaves and Stems for Anxiolytic and Antioxidant Properties Through In Vivo, In Vitro, and In Silico Approaches . Biomedicines . 2020 . 8 . 68 . 68 . 10.3390/biomedicines8040068 . 32218219 . 7235905 . 3 January 2021. free .
9. Paul . Arkajyoti . Adnan . Md. . et al . Anthelmintic activity of Piper sylvaticum Roxb. (family: Piperaceae): In vitro and in silico studies . Clinical Phytoscience . 2018 . 4 . Article number: 17 . 10.1186/s40816-018-0077-8 . 51688729 . free .
10. Wang . Yue-Hu . Morris-Natschke . Susan L. . et al . Anticancer Principles from Medicinal Piper (胡椒 Hú Jiāo) Plants . Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine . 2014 . 4 . 1, January–March . 8–16 . 10.4103/2225-4110.124811 . 24872928 . 4032846 . free .