64 PEPPER FAMILY 



the flowers are examined it is seen that they have neither 

 calyx nor corolla, but depend for their small display on 

 the whiteness of the stamens and the flowering-axis. The 

 bruised leaves have a characteristic odor that is suggestive 

 of hamamelis extract. 



When the botanist Andre Michaux searched our country 

 for rare plants late in the eighteenth century, he recorded 

 in his Journal that the roots of lizard's-tail, boiled or 

 pounded, were used in the southern states as a remedy for 

 inflamed wounds and sores. 



By the St. Johns Eiver the lizard's-tail seldom blooms 

 before April, but as far south as Ft. Myers the flowers are 

 found during winter. 



Saurums cemuus. Flowers minute, white, many, in spike 

 4-8 in. long, drooping at tip. Calyx and corolla lacking. 

 Stamens 6 or 7. Plants 1-4 ft. tall. Leaves alternate, 

 stalked, blades 3-6 in. long, rather broad, heart-shaped at 

 base. Swamps and marshes. Blooming chiefly in spring and 

 summer. Fla. to Texas, north to Conn, and Minn. 



PEPPER FAMILY (Piperaceae) 

 Low plants, with narrow, stiflF spikes of minute flowers. 



Peperomia (Genus Peperomia) 



These odd plants, found on old shell-mounds near the 

 coast and in hammocks of southern Florida where they 

 sometimes grow as epiphytes on the trees, attract attention 

 by their peculiar appearance. Low and creeping in growth, 

 with broad leaves, they bloom in extremely narrow spikes 

 of minute flowers that lack both calyx and corolla — each 

 flower consisting merely of two tiny stamens and a pistil, 

 and these so small that even with an ordinary magnifying 

 glass it is difficult to see them distinctly. The fruit is a 

 tiny one-seeded berry. The only allied plant in the 

 United States is the lizard^s-tail of the preceding family. 



