Pepper with a twist of lime

In a discovery that could have tremendous impact on the state's pepper trade in the international market, scientist from the tropical botanical garden and research institute have found some rare wild pepper plants with pungent fruit and lemon scented leaves in the agasthyamala regions in the westernghats. The findings were presented at the 20^th Kerala science congress here in a paper authored by KB Rameshkumar, P J Mathew and V George. It is like any other peper plant, except for the lemony smell and the pungency. "The number of theses plants is limited and hence it is very important that we conserve them" said Rameshkumar who presented the paper. Ramesh found that while the essential oil yield in cultivated species like the purebred 'amperine' is just 2.8 per cent the fruit of the wild vine had an essential oil content of nearly 10 percent. Though the vine is low yielding the fruit is very pungent with a piperne content twice (10.2%) that of normal plants (4.8%). The team has fondly named this genotype 'PMM" after the head of the KU botany department who was the first person to report the exact number of chromosomes in pepper.

New Indian Express, January 31^st 2008