Black pepper
Black pepper ("Piper nigrum") is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. When fresh and fully mature, the fruit is about in diameter, dark red, and contains a single seed, like all drupes. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as "pepper", or more precisely as "black pepper" (cooked and dried unripe fruit), "green pepper" (dried unripe fruit), or "white pepper" (ripe fruit seeds).