胡椒属植物在经济和生态方面都很重要，包括大约有1,000-2,000余种，有草本、灌木、藤本甚至是小乔木，胡椒科植物既不属于双子叶植物也不属于单子叶植物，和三白草科亲源关系较近，在胡椒科内，胡椒属和草胡椒属的亲源关系较近。

胡椒属植物分布在世界各地的热带地区，多数品种生长在热带雨林中，也有少数品种可以生长在比较开阔地带或亚热带地区。

部分胡椒属藤本品种在温暖地区可以作为园艺品种，但胡椒属的主要用途还是作为香料和蔬菜，人类最早在大约9,000年前就已经知道应用胡椒作为食品香料，主要用黑胡椒（Piper nigrum），此外像墨西哥叶胡椒（Piper auritum）、荜澄茄（Piper cubeba）、长胡椒（Piper longum）、西非胡椒（Piper guineen）也常被应用。越南的罗洛胡椒（Piper lolot）以及东南亚的假蒟（Piper sarmentosum）叶子都是当地的蔬菜。胡椒属许多品种还被许多地方作为当地的草药使用。

主要品种 
胡椒属植物在美洲有约700种，在东南亚有300余种，在南太平洋有40多种，在非洲有约15种。
{{common taxon list|italic=yes
|蘭嶼風藤 |Piper arborescens |
||Piper achupallasense |
||Piper aduncum |
||Piper aequilaterum |C.DC.
||Piper amalgo | 
||Piper angamarcanum |
|兰屿胡椒 |Piper arborescens |Roxb.
|西藏胡椒 |Piper arunachalense |Gajurel, Rethy & Y. Kumar
|卵叶胡椒 |Piper attenuatum |Buch.-Ham. ex Miq.
|墨西哥胡椒叶 |Piper auritum |
|华南胡椒 |Piper austrosinense |Y. C. Tseng
||Piper azuaiense |
||Piper baezanum |
||Piper baezense |
||Piper begoniiforme |
|蒌叶 |Piper betle |L.
|苎叶蒟 |Piper boehmeriaefolium |(Miq.) C. DC.
 光轴苎叶蒟 Piper boehmeriaefolium var. tonkinense C. DC.
|复毛胡椒 |Piper bonii |C. DC.
 大叶复毛胡椒 Piper bonii var. macrophyllum Y. C. Tseng
||Piper borneense |
||Piper brachipilum |
||Piper brachystylum |
||Piper bullatifolium |
||Piper caldense |C.DC.
||Piper callejasii |W. Trujillo & M. A. Jaram.
||Piper campii |
||Piper caninum |, SE Asia to Australia, Common pepper, Native pepper in Australia.
||Piper candollei |
|华山蒌 |Piper cathayanum |M. G. Gilbert & N. H. Xia
||Piper cenocladum | – "ant piper"
|长果胡椒 |Piper chaba |
|勐海胡椒 |Piper chaudocanum |C. DC.
||Piper chimborazoense |
||Piper chimonanthifolium |Kunth
|中华胡椒 |Piper chinense |Miq.
||Piper clathratum |
||Piper claussenianum |
||Piper coeloneurum |
||Piper cordulatum |
|荜澄茄 |Piper cubeba |
||Piper cutucuense |
|大苗山胡椒 |Piper damiaoshanense |Y. C. Tseng
||Piper darienense | – duermeboca (巴拿马), kana (Kuna)
||Piper decurrens |
||Piper densiciliatum |
||Piper diffundum |
||Piper disparipilum |
||Piper distigmatum |
||Piper dodsonii |
||Piper entradense |
||Piper eriocladum |
||Piper eustylum |
||Piper fallenii |
|琉球胡椒 |Piper ferriei |C. DC.
||Piper fimbriulatum |
|黄花胡椒 |Piper flaviflorum |C. DC.
||Piper gaudichaudianum |Kunth
||Piper glabratum |Kunth
||Piper grandifolium |
||Piper gualeanum |
||Piper guayasanum |
|西非胡椒 |Piper guineense |
|海南蒟 |Piper hainanense |Hemsl.
|山蒟 |Piper hancei |Maxim.
|哈曼氏胡椒 |Piper harmandii |C. DC.
||Piper hillianum |C.DC.
||Piper hispidinervum |
|河池胡椒 |Piper hochiense |Y. C. Tseng
||Piper huigranum |
||Piper hydrolapathum |
||Piper hylebates |
||Piper hylophilum |
||Piper imperiale |
|沉果胡椒 |Piper infossum |Y. Q. Tseng
|疏果胡椒 |Piper interruptum |Opiz
|尖峰岭胡椒 |Piper jianfenglingense |C.Y. Hao & Y.H. Tan
|风藤 |Piper kadsura |(Choisy) Ohwi
|恆春風藤 |Piper kawakamii |Hayata
||Piper kurzii |Ridl.
|绿岛胡椒 |Piper kwashoense |Hayata
|大叶蒟 |Piper laetispicum |C. DC.
||Piper lanatum |Roxb.
||Piper laevigatum |Kunth, 1815
||Piper leptostachyum |Wall. ex Miq.
||Piper lhotzkyanum |Kunth
||Piper lineatipilosum |Yunck., 1959
|陵水胡椒 |Piper lingshuiense |Y. C. Tseng
|罗洛胡椒 |Piper lolot |C.DC., 1898
||Piper lonchites |Roem. & Schult.
||Piper longicaudatum |
|蓽拔 |Piper longum |L.，长胡椒
||Piper lucigaudens |
||Piper macrophyllum |
|粗梗胡椒 |Piper macropodum |C. DC.
|麻根 |Piper magen |B. Q. Cheng ex C. L. Long & Jun Yang
||Piper magnificum | – Lacquered Pepper
||Piper malacophyllum |(C.Presl) C.DC.
||Piper manabinum |
||Piper marginatum |
||Piper mekongense |
||Piper mendezense |
||Piper mestonii |
||Piper metallicum |
|卡瓦胡椒 |Piper methysticum |
||Piper mexiae |
|柄果胡椒 |Piper mischocarpum |Y. C. Tseng
||Piper molliusculum |
|短蒟 |Piper mullesua |Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don
|变叶胡椒 |Piper mutabile |C. DC.
||Piper nanegalense |
||Piper napo-pastazanum |
||Piper nebuligaudens |
|黑胡椒 |Piper nigrum |L.，胡椒
||Piper novae-hollandiae | Giant Pepper Vine - 澳大利亚
|裸果胡椒 |Piper nudibaccatum |Y. Q. Tseng
|彩脉胡椒 |Piper ornatum |
||Piper pachyphyllum | – Mahalatsaka
|角果胡椒 |Piper pedicellatum |C. DC.
||Piper peepuloides |Roxb.
||Piper peltatum |
||Piper permucronatum |Yunck.
||Piper perstrigosum |
|台东胡椒 |Piper philippinum |Miq.
|屏边胡椒 |Piper pingbienense |Y. C. Tseng
||Piper platylobum |
|线梗胡椒 |Piper pleiocarpum |C. C. Chang ex Y. C. Tseng
|樟叶胡椒 |Piper polysyphonum |C. DC.
|肉轴胡椒 |Piper ponesheense |C. DC.
||Piper porphyrophyllum |
||Piper poscitum |
||Piper prietoi |
||Piper productispicum |
||Piper pseudonigrum |
||Piper pseudopothifolium |C.DC.
|毛叶胡椒 |Piper puberulilimbum |C. DC.
|岩椒 |Piper pubicatulum |C. DC.
||Piper puyoense |
||Piper quinchasense |M. A. Jaram.
||Piper regale |
|假荜拔 |Piper retrofractum |Vahl
||Piper richardiifolium |Kunth
||Piper rostratum |Roxb.
||Piper rubronodosum |
||Piper rubrovenosum |
|红果胡椒 |Piper rubrum |C. DC.
|西贡胡椒 |Piper saigonense |
||Piper saloyanum |
||Piper san-miguelense |
|假蒟 |Piper sarmentosum |Roxb.
|斜叶蒟 |Piper senporeiense |Yamam.
||Piper schuppii |
|塞舌尔胡椒 |Piper seychellarum |
||Piper skutchii |
||Piper smitinandianum |Suwanph. & Chantar. 
||Piper sodiroi |
|短柄胡椒 |Piper stipitiforme |C. C. Chang ex Y. C. Tseng
||Piper stipulosum |
||Piper subaduncum |
|多脉胡椒 |Piper submultinerve |C. DC.
 狭叶多脉胡椒 Piper submultinerve var. nandanicum Y. C. Tseng
||Piper subnitidifolium |
|缘毛胡椒 |Piper semiimmersum |C. DC.
|半透明胡椒 |Piper semi-transparens |C.Y. Hao & Y.H. Tan
|滇西胡椒 |Piper suipigua |Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don
||Piper supernum |
|银叶胡椒 |Piper sylvaticum |Roxb., 长柄胡椒
|台湾胡椒 |Piper taiwanense |T. T. Lin & S. Y. Lu
||Piper tectonifolium |Kunth
|球穗胡椒 |Piper thomsonii |(C. DC.) Hook. f.
 小叶球穗胡椒 Piper thomsonii var. microphyllum Y. C. Tseng
||Piper trachyphyllum |
||Piper translucens |Yunck.
||Piper triandrum |F.Muell.	
|三色胡椒 |Piper tricolor |Y. C. Tseng
||Piper trioicum |
||Piper truman-yunckeri |
||Piper truncatum |Vell.
|瑞丽胡椒 |Piper tsengianum |M. G. Gilbert & N. H. Xia
|粗穗胡椒 |Piper tsangyuanense |P. S. Chen & P. C. Zhu
|大胡椒 |Piper umbellatum |L.
||Piper unguiculatum |
||Piper valladolidense |
||Piper verrucosum |
|石南藤 |Piper wallichii |(Miq.) Hand.-Mazz.
||Piper warakahoura |
||Piper wibomii |
||Piper wightii |
|盈江胡椒 |Piper yinkiangense |Y. C. Tseng
|蒟子 |Piper yunnanense |Y. C. Tseng
||Piper zarumanum |
}}

 注释 

 外部链接 
 图片和描述等 
 《中国植物》中的胡椒科 
 《北美洲植物》中的胡椒科 
 NCBI分类中的胡椒科 
 泰国胡椒品种 

 参考文献 
  (2004): Piper: A model genus for studies of evolution, chemical ecology, and trophic interactions. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston. ISBN 0-306-48498-6
  (2008): Tropical Root Crops. Retrieved 2008-JUL-15.
  (1969): Hoabinhian: A pebble tool complex with early plant associations in Southeast Asia. Science 163(3868): 671-673.  (HTML abstract)
  (1971): The Hoabinhian and After: Subsistence Patterns in Southeast Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Recent Periods. World Archaeology 2(3): 300-320. HTML abstract and first page image
  (2007): 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland.
  (2007): Effects of Kava Alkaloid, Pipermethystine, and Kavalactones on Oxidative Stress and Cytochrome P450 in F-344 Rats. Toxicological Science 97(1): 214-221.  PMID 17329236 PDF fulltext
  (1640): Theatrum Botanicum: the Theater of Plants, etc. T. Cotes, London.
  (1998): Cha Plu. In: Encyclopedia of Asian Food. Periplus Editions. HTML fulltext 
  (2006): Safety of ethanolic kava extract: Results of a study of chronic toxicity in rats. Phytomedicine'' 13(8): 542-549.  PMID 16904878 (HTML abstract)

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