Piper guineense is a West African species of Piper; the spice derived from its dried fruit is known as Ashanti pepper, Benin pepper, Edo pepper, false cubeb, Guinea cubeb, and called locally kale, kukauabe, masoro, etiñkeni, sasema, soro wisa, eyendo, eshasha by the Urhobo people, Iyere, or ata-iyere by the Yoruba and oziza and uziza by the Igbo people of Nigeria.

The plants that provide Ashanti pepper are vines that can grow up to 20 m in length, climbing up boles of trees by means of adventitious roots.

These are native to topical regions of Central and Western Africa and are semi-cultivated in countries such as Nigeria where the leaves, known as uziza, are used as a flavouring for stews.

Though known in Europe during the Middle Ages (it was a common spice in Rouen and Dieppe in 14th-century France), these days, its use is largely marginalized to West and Central Africa.

Often, a few grains are ground in a pestle and mortar before being added (along with black pepper) to soups or to boiled rice.