Cochin, January 31
Adding another chapter to the vast spice resource of Kerala, scientists have discovered a rare wild pepper plants with pungent fruit and lemon-scented leaves. This unique variety of pepper was discovered from the Agasthyamala regions in the Western Ghats by the team of scientists from the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute.
It was told that this rare pepper variety resembles same as normal pepper plant, but the lemony smell and pungency makes it unique. This kind of plant is very rare and also limited in number, and needs to be conserved. Scientist K.B Rameshkumar and P.J Mathews who discovered this new pepper variety also informed one of the essential features of this wild vine which holds a high level of oil content in them which the normal pepper plants doesn’t posses.
To make sure the plant has really some unique qualities from normal pepper plant these scientists performed test of the first generation seedlings and even the second generation seedling which both showed the lemony character in them. During the study of almost 64 morphological characters of the plant, none of the characters were found in the other pepper species which clearly highlighted the uniqueness of this plant. These finding are presented in the ongoing 20th Kerala science congress as reported by the New Indian Express daily.
The new variety of pepper with that lemon effect has added a new variant in the vast list of spices Kerala treasures in its heavenly abode.
