144 CXIII, PIPERACEZ (BAKER AND WRIGHT). [ Piper. 
embryo minute.—Herbs or shrubs, erect or climbing. Leaves usually 
alternate and entire, rarely opposite or verticillate; stipules none or 
adnate to the petiole. Flowers minute, usually forming dense spikes, 
each subtended by a peltate bract. 
Species about 1000, spread through the warmer regions of both hemispheres ; 
most numerous in Tropical America. 
Shrubs, Stamens 2-6; anther-cells usually distinct. 
Stigmas 2-3. : : : : : - iL. PrIesk. 
Herbs. Stamens 2; anther-cells usually confluent. 
Stigmal . : 5 : : : : . 2. PEPEROMIA. 
1. PIPER, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. 129. 
Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, usually forming dense cylin- 
drical spikes, rarely racemes. Perianth none. Stamens 2-4, rarely 
more; filaments short; anther-cells usually distinct. Ovary sessile, 
J-celled, 1l-ovuled, obtuse or rostrate; stigmas 2-4, distinct, erect or 
recurved. Berry small, usually globose, often immersed in the succu- 
lent rhachis, more rarely stalked. Seed similar in shape to the berry ; 
testa thin; endosperm and perisperm usually hard.—Erect or scandent 
shrubs. Branches jointed at the nodes. Leaves alternate, entire, 
equal or unequal at the base, penninerved; stipules adnate to the 
petiole or connate into a leaf-opposed sheath. Flowers usually sessile 
spikes terminal or leaf-opposed. 
Species about 600, spread through the warmer regions of both hemispheres. 
Stigmas 3. 
Spikes 2-7, umbellately arranged : ‘ . 1. P. umbellatum. 
Spikes solitary . . ; : ‘ . 2. P. guineense. 
Stigmas 2. 
Branches glabrous. 
Leaves villous on the nerves beneath 5 . 38, P. capense. 
Leaves glabrous. 
Leaves cordate or rounded at the base. 
Peduncle twice as long as the petiole 
Peduncle as long as the petiole 
Leaves acute at the base 
Branches pubescent . 
. P. Mollert. 
. P. pseudosylvaticum. 
. P. sclerocladum. 
. P. brachyrhachis. 
IH OS 
1. P. umbellatum, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. i. 30. A shrub, 4-5 ft. 
high; branches stout, flexuous, glabrous. Leaves roundish reniform, 
3-12 in. across, cuspidate, deeply cordate at the base, membranous, 
glabrous on both surfaces or pubescent on the nerves beneath; nerves 
11-13, radiating from the apex of the petiole; petiole dilated and 
sheathing at the base. Spikes 2-7, umbellately arranged on short 
axillary peduncles, 2-3 in. long, 2 lin. in diam. Flowers minute, her- 
maphrodite; bracts shortly stalked, suborbicular, distinctly ciliate. 
Stigmas 3. Fruit turbinate, trigonous.—Jacq. Ie. t. 216; C. DC. in 
DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 332; Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 911. P. sud- 
peltatum, Willd. Sp. Pl. i. 166; C. DC. lc. 333; Baker, Fl. Maurit. 
