- Tropical vine - The small, spicy berry of a species of pepper (Piper Cubeba;
in med., Cubeba officinalis), native in Java and Borneo, but now
cultivated in various tropical countries. The dried unripe fruit is
much used in medicine as a stimulant and purgative.
- A large genus of American, mostly tropical, climbing
shrubs, having compound leaves and showy somewhat tubular flowers. B.
capreolata is the cross vine of the Southern United States. The trumpet
creeper was formerly considered to be of this genus.