Pepper can represent spiciness, irritation, or warmth—all of which are metaphors for aspects of human interaction. In a dream, pepper could be representing any one of these qualities.
(Piper nigrum), a species of plants of the genus Piper of the family Piperaceae. The pepper, a perennial climbing plant, has a semilignified, flexible, slender stalk, measuring 10–12 m long, and adventitious aerial roots, which form on the nodes. The entire leaves are ovate, leathery, and alternate. The small flowers, which are grayish green or white, are gathered into loose inflorescences measuring 7–10 cm long. The fruit, a globose one-seeded drupe, is 3–5 mm in diameter. Originally green in color, the drupe turns red when ripe and black when dried.
The pepper is native to India. It is cultivated in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, Eastern Africa, and America. In the USSR the plant is grown in hothouses. The cultivated pepper is monoecious; the wild form is dioecious. When propagated by seeds, the pepper flowers in the third or fourth year. Plants that have been propagated vegetatively flower in the fifth or sixth month. The plant flowers only once; the fruit ripens in five to ten months. Peppers graft well; they branch profusely after pruning.
The harvest from one pepper plant is 0.6–1.5 kg. The optimal air temperature is 24°-26°C. The plant, which is not drought resistant, grows best on fertile soils that are moist but drained. As many as 7,500 plants may be planted per hectare (with three seeds in each hole).
The pepper plant is used as a spice in cooking and by the food-processing industry. Its pungency and spiciness depend on its content of the alkaloid pipeline and essential oils.
T. I. KALMYKOVA