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Herb library · Spice · Piper guineense

Uziza (West African pepper)

A West African climbing pepper whose berries and leaves season soups. No study has tested it in people; the evidence that exists is market testing, which found lead above the permitted limit in samples sold in Nigeria.

Traditional use

Used across West Africa as a spice and a medicine. Holland (1922) records it under many local names, among them Masoro (Hausa), Iyere (Lagos), Ebien (Benin) and Sassama (Cape Coast), and notes that the dried berries were sold in Nigerian markets for spice and medicine, eaten with rice and taken as a purge in Sierra Leone, used to thicken soup in Lagos, and used for sores in the Gold Coast. Healers and herb sellers in Imo State, Nigeria, told researchers in 2019 that they use the leaves and fruits for skin rashes, oral thrush and vaginal infections, often steeped in locally made bamboo alcohol.

What studies show

  • Insufficient

    Fungal infections and other traditional uses: laboratory tests on yeasts have given mixed results (one found extracts slowed Candida, another found no effect), and no study has tested uziza in people.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteLead: market samples of this pepper from Awka, Nigeria, held lead 8 to 30 times the WHO/FAO permitted limit. The researchers estimated daily intake from normal cooking use was still below tolerable limits, but said it adds to the body's lead burden and that quality control is needed. Buy from a source that tests for heavy metals, especially for children.
  • NoteIts safety as a medicine, or in amounts larger than cooking, has not been studied in people.
  • PregnancyThere is no safety information for medicinal use in pregnancy or breastfeeding; lead exposure matters most in pregnancy and for young children.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“The fruits of this species was known as early as 1364 from the Grain Coast (Liberia) and 1485 from Benin, exported from the latter place by the Portuguese in a vain attempt to sell it in Flanders, and one cask of it was offered for sale in London as “Cubebs,” Feb. 11th, 1858”
J. H. Holland, The Useful Plants of Nigeria, Part IV (Kew Bulletin, Additional Series IX) (1922), Part IV, p. 554. See the page of The Useful Plants of Nigeria, Part IV (Kew Bulletin, Additional Series IX), Part IV, p. 554 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from The Useful Plants of Nigeria, Part IV (Kew Bulletin, Additional Series IX), Part IV, p. 554
“Locally the fruits or small dried berries sold for spice and medicinal use, Nigeria (Dalziel, Hausa, Bot. Voc. p. 76); used by the country people to eat with rice and as a purge (drink) in Sierra Leone (Scott Elliot, Herb. Kew) in thickening soup, Lagos (Dawodu, Herb. Kew)”
J. H. Holland, The Useful Plants of Nigeria, Part IV (Kew Bulletin, Additional Series IX) (1922), Part IV, p. 555. See the page of The Useful Plants of Nigeria, Part IV (Kew Bulletin, Additional Series IX), Part IV, p. 555 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from The Useful Plants of Nigeria, Part IV (Kew Bulletin, Additional Series IX), Part IV, p. 555

Sources

  1. Heavy metals hazards from Nigerian spices (Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig, 2016) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. Preliminary Assessment of Essential and Potentially Toxic Elements in the Most Common Spices in a Developing Country: Health Hazard Implication (Biol Trace Elem Res, 2025) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. An ethnobotanical survey and antifungal activity of Piper guineense used for the treatment of fungal infections in West-African traditional medicine (J Ethnopharmacol, 2019) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  4. Antimicrobial effects of Piper guineense 'Uziza' and Phyllantus amarus 'Ebe-benizo' on Candida albicans and Streptococcus faecalis (Acta Microbiol Immunol Hung, 2007) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.