332 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Piperacece. 
The Piperacee are found in tropical parts, as those of Asia, S. America, and in 
the West-Indies. They are deficient on the west coast of Africa, as we have seen to be 
the case with Begoniacee, and some others which delight in moist and sheltered 
situations. They are found in Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, and 
abundantly in all the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans. From the Moluccas, 
Sumatra, and Java, they extend along the Malayan Peninsula to Goalpara and 
Silhet. Several species are found in the Indian Peninsula, and a few extend from 
Silhet to Nepal, and even as far as the vallies of the Suen Range, or in N. lat. 303°. 
Carolina is the most northern habitat in the New World. A few species ascend the 
Peruvian Andes, so do others the Himalayas. 
Those which are found in Nepal are, P. peepuloides, Roxb. (the peepul of Silhet), 
and P. aurantiacum, Wall.; while P. brachystachyum, Wall., found in the vallies of 
Noakote and Nepal, extends also to those below the Mussooree and Suen Ranges, 
where it is called puharee pan, or hill-betle. P. longum, also found in the Peninsula 
and the vallies of the Circar mountains, as well as in Bengal and Silhet, I am unable 
to distinguish from specimens collected in the Kheree Pass, and there called puharee 
peepul, or hill long-pepper. This name is said by Dr. Roxburgh to be applied in the 
mountains N.W. (an N.E.?) of Pengal to his P. sylvaticum, which is no doubt allied to 
P. longum. P. (Peperomia, Don.) savatilis is probably that which occurs at the highest 
elevations, as it is found on the mountains of Dindygul in the Peninsula, also on 
those of Silhet, in Nepal, Kemaon, and still further nérth on Suen, Surkunda, and 
Deobun. 
The tribe of Peppers is well characterized by the warm, pungent, and aromatic 
properties for which some of the species have been celebrated from the earliest to the 
present times, either as condiments, or for their uses as stimulant and stomachic 
medicines. Of these, Piper nigrum, affording the Black and White Pepper (Pers. 
pilpil) of Commerce, is, no doubt, the most celebrated. That of Malabar has long 
been considered the best; but that of Sumatra, and many of the islands, is reckoned 
nearly as good. Mr. Crawford states, “The Pepper countries extend from above 
the longitude of 96° to that of 115° E., beyond which no Pepper is to be found, and 
they reach from 5° S. lat. to 12° N., where it again ceases. Within these limits, we 
have Sumatra, Borneo, the Malayan Peninsula, and certain co 
untries lying on the east 
coast of the Gulf of Siam.” 
It is cultivated all along the Malabar coast, and also 
near Courtallum. Dr. Roxburgh describes it as being found wild in the hills of the 
Rajamundry district. But this may be the species which he describes under the name 
P. trioicum, of which I have seen no specimens ; but the Pepper Dr. R. states to be 
“exceedingly pungent, and by merchants at Madras reckoned equal, if not superior 
to the best Pepper of the Malabar coast or Ceylon.” 
The Betle-leaf, P. Bet te, pan of the natives, Sans. Tamboolee, Pers. tumbol, so well 
know for. its moderately ‘pungent and aromatic properties, is cultivated throu ghout 
tropical Asia, and over a 
: great part of India. I have seen it as high as Bundlecund 
and 
