''Piper ribesioides'', also known as Lao chili wood, mai sakhaan ( lo, ໄມ້ ສະຄ້ານ, ), sankhaan, sankharn, sankahn or sakahn is a species of black pepper plant. The woody vine or stem of the plant has a hot, peppery and chili flavour, with a lingering aftertaste and slightly numbing sensation to the tongue. It is commonly used in

Lao cuisine Lao cuisine or Laotian cuisine ( lo, ອາຫານລາວ) is the national cuisine of Laos. The staple food of the Lao is sticky rice ( lo, ເຂົ້າໜຽວ, khao niao). Laos has the highest sticky rice consumption per-capita in ...

both in Laos and the predominately Lao ethnic region of Northeastern Thailand. It is the most important ingredient in Laos' famous

Or lam Or or OR may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * "O.R.", a 1974 episode of List of M*A*S*H episodes (Season 3), M*A*S*H * Or (My Treasure), a 2004 movie from Israel (''Or'' means "light" in Hebrew) Music * Or (album), ''Or ...

. Its berries are sometimes pressed for an oil that is also used in cooking. ''Piper ribesioides'', is a lesser known woody species known to occur in Laos,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, Andaman- Nicobar Islands, and

Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom. It has been given different definitions. ...

. This taxon was located in the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

in 1834 by Dr Helfer, a geologist who made extensive botanical collections from Tenasserim (Myanmar) and the Andaman Islands. Unfortunately, he was murdered by the indigenous people of the northern Andaman Islands and his collections from Tenasserim and Andaman Islands were mixed up, causing much confusion about the geographical origin of the botanical collections. Hence the locality of all herbarium collections made by Helfer have been designated as Tenasserim/Andaman Islands. Exact occurrence of several collections made by Helfer was later reconfirmed by other botanists during their explorations. One of his collections deposited at Central National Herbarium, Howrah (CAL) designated the locality as Tenasserim/Andaman Islands was ''Piper ribesioides''; however, the occurrence of this species in Andaman Islands was doubted until its rediscovery in 1990 by Mathew and Abraham. This woody climbing liana is evidently rare in the Andaman Islands. Living accessions of this rare insular species from the Andaman Islands is conserved at the Field Gene Bank of Jawharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Trivandrum, South India.Mathew, S. P. and S. Abraham 2001: On Helfer's collection of ''Piper ribesioides'' wall. from the Bay Islands, India. Journ. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.98 (3): 491-492.

References

ribesioides Flora of Myanmar Lao cuisine {{Piperales-stub