[1] 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.

Piper ribesioides, is a lesser known woody species known to occur in Laos, Myanmar, Andaman-Nicobar Islands, and Malesia.

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.

Living accessions of this rare insular species from the Andaman Islands is conserved at the Field Gene Bank of Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Trivandrum, South India.