Kava (Piper Methysticum), a member of the pepper family Piperaceae, is an outstanding ethno pharmacological species. Kava is a handsome shrub that is propagated vegetative, as are most of the Pacific’s major traditional crops. Its active principles, a series of Kava lactones, are concentrated in the rootstock and roots. Islanders ingest these psychoactive chemicals by drinking cold-water infusions of chewed, ground, pounded, or otherwise macerated Kava stumps and roots.

The Kava plant is a robust, well-branching, and erect perennial shrub. It grows well in altitudes 150-300 meters above sea level in stony ground. It prefers warm, humid conditions with a lot of sunlight and can grow up to nine feet tall. The leaves are heart shaped, green, smooth, pointed, and about 4- 10 inches wide. The heavy, knotted mass of root grows about 60 cm below the ground and is used medicinally. Kava meaning "intoxicating drink," grows in the South Pacific in Polynesia, Indonesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia which makes up Oceania. It is also found in Hawaii where it means "bitter," "sour," "sharp," and "pungent."