“P iper. ; DIANDRIA TRIGYNIA. 157 
lengthways to the petioles, lanceolate; of the sessile leaves within 
the leaf, single, spathiform. — 
FEMALE FrowERs. Ament sessile, leaf-opposed, peduncled, 
erect, cylindric, imbricated with five, or more, spiral rows of small, 
orbicular, permanent, peltated, one-flowered scales.— Ca? none.— 
Corol noue.--Stamens none.— Germs numerous, aggregate, sessile, 
sub-orbicular. S'yle none or exceedingly short. Stigmas three or 
four-lobed.— Pericarp aggregate, sub-cylindrical, composed of firm- 
ly united, one-seeded drupes.— Seed ovate, smooth. 
Obs. Tt is in Bengal only, so far as I have been able to learn, that this 
plant is cultivated for its pepper. When the pe: per (ament) is full 
grown, itis gathered and daily exposed to the sun, un Iur 
dry ; after which it is packed up in bags for sale. — — 
The roots, and thickest parts of the creeping stems, when cut into 
small pieces and dried, form a considerable article of commerce 
ali over India, under the name of Pippula moola ; forwhich purpose it 
is particularly cultivated in many of ‘the vallies amongst the Circar 
‘Mountains. This sort is more esteemed, and bears a higher price 
‘than that of Benga’; where by far the largest proportion is cultivat- 
ed. tis, as well as the pepper, chiefly employ ed medicinally, and 
the consumption of both these drugs is very great. 
- Curtivation 1N Bencau. The long pepper is not propagated 
by seed, but by suckers, and requires to be cultivated upon í rich, 
‘high, and dry soil. The suckers are transplanted soon after the setting 
in of the periodical rains, and the pepper (which is preserved merely 
by drying it in the sun), is gathered i in the month of January, after 
_ Which the stalk, and branches of the plant wither, and the roots only 
‘Temain alive. A bigha of land (the third of anEnglish acre) will yield ee 
‘in the first year about a maund (eighty-four pounds) of the pepper, in E 
the second year four maunds; and in the third six ; after which, as the 2 
Ec becomes annually less and less productive, the root 
grubbed up, dried, and sold ; and fresh roots, or young sh 
set in their stead, the earth requiring merely a slight coves 
nure, The plants are never to be ete sad 
