Malabar pepper Malabar pepper Malabar pepper is a variety of black pepper that originated as a chance seedling in a geographical region that now forms part of the present day state of Kerala in India. The area of production of this variety of pepper now covers all the geographical regions that were once part of the Malabar region of the erstwhile Madras Presidency. These regions now entail the entire South India area. Malabar pepper was one of the most sought after commodities by the ancient Roman and Arab traders, and later by the early European navigators. Malabar pepper is classified under two
Malabar trogon "fakir's kafni" (robe). The Marathi name is "karna" while it is called "kakarne hakki" in Kannada In Kerala it is known as "theekakka" (literally "fire-crow"). In Sri Lanka, it is known as "loha wannichcha". Malabar trogons feed exclusively on insects and fruits have not been noted in their diet unlike in the New World trogons. Seeds have however been reported in the diet of Sri Lankan specimens. In the forests of Sri Lanka, they are often found in mixed-species foraging flocks where they may sometimes be subject to kleptoparasitism by drongos. A study in Kerala found that they foraged mainly