Piper guineense is a
West African species of
Piper; the spice derived from its dried
fruit is known as
West African pepper,
Ashanti pepper,
Benin pepper,
false cubeb,
Guinea cubeb,
uziza pepper or (ambiguously)
"Guinea pepper", and called locally
kale,
kukauabe,
masoro,
sasema and
soro wisa. It is a close relative of
cubeb pepper and a relative of
black pepper and
long pepper. Unlike cubeb pepper, which is large and spherical in shape, Ashanti peppers are
prolate spheroids, smaller and smoother than Cubeb pepper in appearance and generally bear a reddish tinge. The stalks of Ashanti pepper berries are also distinctly curved whilst those of cubeb pepper are completely straight.