| yee |
[img]http://jonathanyee.com/nativeplantsforum/forum photos/Piper-auritum-upclose.jpg[/img]
[img]http://jonathanyee.com/nativeplantsforum/forum photos/Piper-auritum.jpg[/img]
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This is not kava. This is Piper auritum. Other names for this plant are Vera Cruz pepper, anisillo, cordoncillo, and Santa Marķa. It is considered an invasive pest in Oceania. It spreads rapidly via suckers. Piper auritum is already in Hawai'i and sometimes being sold by unknowing nurseries as kava. Eradication efforts have been underway in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Comments?
Mahalo,
Jonathan |
| hkobayashi |
quote:
Originally posted by yee
This is not kava. This is Piper auritum. Other names for this plant are Vera Cruz pepper, anisillo, cordoncillo, and Santa Marķa. It is considered an invasive pest in Oceania. It spreads rapidly via suckers. Piper auritum is already in Hawai'i and sometimes being sold by unknowing nurseries as kava. Eradication efforts have been underway in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Comments?
That plant may contain at least one species of kavapyrones. There are several synosyms of P. auritum, and P. sanctum is one of them. Supposedly, a kavapyrone has been isolated from P. sanctum, so it's possible that P. auritum produces at least one type of kavapyrone. Kavapyrones have been isolated from other plants such as Vicia sp., and Alpinia sp., so it doesn't surprise me much.
This link has a good info. on P. auritum:
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Pipe_aur.html |