Schinus molle

Is this tree the provider of the common pepper corns?

Lee, Hello, and welcome to the Xeriscaping Forum. Schinus (S. molle) The members of this small genus of resinous trees are also known as peppertrees. They are grown mostly for their decorative fruit. grown in California south of San Franscisco are the California Peppertree(s. molle) growing to 20 feet w/ rose red fruit.
Source: Organic Gardening Encyclopedia.
It says nothing about common peppercorns. I have seen this type tree in this area. I do not beleive it is the source for the common peppercorn. I could be wrong. A link on Schinus molle
http://www.neoflora.com/cgi-bin/plant_profile.cgi?plant_sid=17069

This message was edited Tuesday, Oct 16th 2:13 PM

You're right Michele, this is NOT the source of peppercorns. Black pepper, white pepper and all the colors in between come from a tropical tree or shrub. The name escapes me at the moment. I have heard of people using the California Pepper Tree berries as "pink peppercorns", but I have also heard they are toxic. Pink peppercorns come from that tropcal tree when the berries aren't quite ripe. Shinus molle is a beautiful trees though, when trained properly.

This message was edited Friday, Jan 18th 12:00 PM

This thread seems long dead, but...Black Pepper comes from a tropical vine Piper nigrum. Seeds are available.

Ill Say! This forum has been slow moving! Seems Xeriscaping is a rare type of gardening! I try to post an odd bit of info in here every couple of weeks. But I dont want to take it over!
Those pepper trees seem to be fast growing I must say.

And they are quite beautiful with a lot of training. They tend to send out lots of twiggy branches, but when trained right can look like an exotic willow and do really well in the Desert.

Tim are they water intensive?