PIPERACEAE 331 
1. Saururus cérnuus L. Foliage dark green, glabrous, or glabrate below, the young 
parts and the inflorescence finely pubescent. Stems 3-12 dm. tall, erect from a swollen 
base, which gives off slender roots at the nodes, simple or branched above, angled: leaf- 
blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, or sometimes slightly hastate, 8-15 em. long, acuminate, 
slightly wavy-margined, cordate and often slightly auricled at the base, commonly pubes- 
cent on the nerves; petioles winged, often J as long as the blades: racemes 1-2 dm. long, 
villous: filaments thickened upward, about 4 mm. long: ovary glabrous: fruit depressed, 
2.5-3 mm. broad; carpels nearly distinct, very strongly wrinkled, brown: seed ovoid- 
globose, 0.7 mm. long, shining and transversely wrinkled under an ash-colored coat. 
" In marshes and along streams, Ontario to Minnesota, Connecticut, Florida and Texas. Summer. 
IZARD S-TAIL. 
FAMILY 2. PIPERACEAE H.B.K. PEPPER FAMILY. 
Herbs, shrubs or trees, with tissues of a firm or a flimsy texture, often pcs- 
sessing spicy or aromatic properties. Leaves leathery, or fleshy, alternate, 
opposite or whorled: blades usually entire, often pellucid-punctate: stipules 
present or wanting. Flowers perfect or unisexual, in solitary or clustered spikes 
or rarely in racemes, subtended by cup-shaped or peltate bractlets. Perianth 
wanting. Androecium of 2-6, or rarely 8 or 10 stamens inserted under the ovary. 
Filaments distinct, sometimes adnate to the base of the ovary. Anthers attached 
at the base, the 2 sacs often confluent. Gynoecium of 8 or rarely more united 
carpels. Ovary 1-celled, sessile or nearly so. Stigmas 3 or many in a brush- 
like mass. Ovule solitary, erect, orthotropous. Fruit drupaceous, indehiscent, 
with a fleshy or thin and almost dry pericarp. Seed solitary, with a membran- 
ous or leathery testa. Endosperm mealy, with the minute embryo at the top. 
1. PEPEROMIA R. & P. 
Annual or perennial caulescent herbs, with creeping often tuberous rootstocks. Leaves 
alternate, opposite or whorled : blades fleshy, often pellucid-punctate, sometimes very thin. 
Flowers perfect, minute, in dense or open slender spikes furnished with peltate bractlets. 
Stamens 2: filaments usually short : anthers transversely broadened, 2-valved, extrorse, 
the cavities confluent. Pistil solitary : stigmas forming a brush-like tuft. Fruit small, often 
minute, with a thin pericarp. Seed shaped like the pericarp. 
Leaf-blades thin, 3-nerved, 1-4 em. long : spikes loosely flowered. 1. P. leptostachya. 
Leaf-blades leathery, 5-9-nerved, 6-12 cm. long: spikes densely flowered. 2. P. magnoliaefolia. 
l. Peperomia leptostáchya (Nutt.) Chapm. Foliage finely pubescent. Stems 
erect, 1-4 dm. tall, slender, closely jointed below, simple or branched above, fleshy : leaves 
opposite or whorled ; blades 1-4 em. long, thin, 3-nerved, the lower ones broadly cuneate, 
truncate or retuse at the apex, the upper ones varying from obovate to ovate, obtuse or 
acutish, all petioled: spikes very slender, 2-6 cm. long, loosely-flowered ; bractlets peltate, 
0.6-0.7 mm. in diameter: stamens shorter than the ovary. 
In woods and hammocks, peninsular and eastern Florida. 
2. Peperomia magnoliaefdlia (Jacq.) C. DC. Foliage glabrous. Stem stout: 
leaves alternate; blades leathery, oval varying to ovate or obovate, or rarely broadly cu- 
neate, 6-12 cm. long, truncate, obtuse or notched at the apex, entire, dull, on short, slightly 
winged petioles, 5-9-nerved : spikes slender, 5-10 cm. long, densely flowered : bractlets 
peltate, 0.3-0.4 mm. in diameter: stamens shorter than the ovary. 
In rich woods and hammocks, peninsular Florida. Also in tropical America. 
Order 2. CASUARINALES. 
Shrubs or trees destitute of proper leaves, with loosely jointed angled 
branches. Leaves reduced to scales ; these small, appressed or recurved, 4 or 
more in a whorl at a node, sometimes united into a sheathing base, the midrib 
decurrent on the branches. Flowers unisexual: staminate in slender cylindric 
or 4-angled terminal spikes, subtended by imbricated bracts, often with an ante- 
rior and posterior perianth-part, 1 stamen and a large anther with sacs opening 
lengthwise. Pistillate flowers in dense spikes or cones : perianth wanting : ovary 
I-celled ; styles slightly united at the base, the 2 branches slender. Ovules 1-2 
