Crop Wild Relatives of Indian Pipers: therapeutic potential and beyond

India is home to a vast repertoire of diverse plants, With certain plants having significant economical an medicinal value.

- Era Vaidya Malhotra, Shreya Sharma, Sangita Bansal

Evolving scientific advancements are bringing in novel methodologies for the examination of diverse herbal remedies which have a part of various cultural practices since ages. Among them, the genus of Indian Piper along with its Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) are garnering attention for their potential therapeutic applications offering promising avenues for medical research and drug development. The genus Piper, comprising pepper plants or pepper vines belongs to the family Piperaceae. Piper species are aromatic herbs that are used as culinary spices, and the secondary metabolites secreted by them have found use in various traditional medicine systems. Several Piper species make up the Indian component of Piper and are primarily found in the tropical evergreen forests, with discontinuous distribution in the Eastern Ghats, the Western Ghats, and the Northeastern Himalayan region. Most of these plants prefer hot and humid conditions for their growth. The biodiversity hotspots of the Western Ghats are reported to be the sole existing source of wild P. nigrum germplasm across the globe.

Medicinal importance