Miscellaneous. ^1 



finely -pitted testa. Albumen mealy, often horny at the outer part. 

 Species all Asiatic. 



Chavica Betle, Miq., and Chavica Siriboa, Miq., are frequently 

 cultivated throughout the East Indies ; their sharp aromatic leaves, 

 with chalk and areca nuts, furnish the material for the habit of betel- 

 chewing, universal in those countries. 



The three following species are to be named as the plants fur- 

 nishing the officinal Piper Ionium : — 



1. Chavica peepuloides, Miq — The younger branches, as well as 

 the leaf- and flower-stalks, are clothed with fine hairs ; the leaves 

 smooth, membranous, and with transparent dots ; the lower ovate, 

 seven-nerved, rounded at the base, attenuated at the apex ; the upper 

 unequal, lanceolate, with an attenuated apex, five-nerved. Male 

 catkins shortly stalked, slender, with circular bracts ; the female also 

 shortly stalked and cylindrical. 



Synonym, Piper peepuloides, Roxb. 



2. Chavica Roxburghii, Miq. — A forked-branched, trailing shrub, 

 only erect during the flowering period, with stems at first finely- 

 hairy, afterwards smooth, and thick membranous leaves at first 

 clothed with fine hair on the nerves, afterwards smooth, covered 

 with fine transparent dots. The lower leaves have long stalks, are 

 roundish, with broadly-cordate base ; the upper are sessile, of a more 

 elongated form, and with an unequally-cordate base embracing the 

 stem. The male catkins filiform, cylindrical, with their stalk as long 

 as the leaf; female scarcely half as long, but thicker than the male; 

 the stems as long as the catkins. 



Synonym, Piper longum^ L. Z. Thl. Abbildg. ; Nees, Plant. Me- 

 dic, tab. 23. 



This species, growing wild in damp thickets throughout the fron- 

 tier of India and cultivated frequently in Bengal, yields like the 

 preceding the Piper longum coming from the English colonies, which 

 is gathered in January, and consists of the fruit-catkins dried in the 

 sun. In India they use instead of these the roots and stem of the 

 plant cut in small pieces. 



3. Chavica officinarum, Miq. — A climbing shrub, with coria- 

 ceous leaves covered with fine transparent dots, smooth and paler 

 below ; the lower are longer-stalked, 3-5-nerved and ovato-cordate ; 

 the upper more shortly stalked, more elongated, with an unequal 

 rounded or attenuated base and an attenuated apex. The stalks of 

 the catkins are longer than the leaf-stalks. The female catkins are 

 short and cylindrical, slenderer towards the apex. 



Synonym, Piper longum, Rumph, Blume, Linn, in part. 



This species grows wild in the Philippines, the Sunda Islands 

 (perhaps also in Bengal), and is cultivated particularly in the island 

 of Java, in the neighbourhood of the sea. It yields the Piper longum 

 coming from the Dutch colonies. The dried catkins smell strongly 

 aromatic, and have a sharp burning aromatic taste, stronger than 

 black pepper. They are of a grayish-brown or grayish-cinnamon 

 colour; their stalk is roundish, compressed, somewhat woody, curved, 

 \\ centim. long, and almost smooth. Thev are thick, cylindrical, 



Ann. ^Mog.N. Hist. VoLxvi. " X 



