CHLORANTHACEjE. 



633 a. C. brachystachys Blume fl. j'av. ic. — Ascarlna ser- 

 rata Blume enum. i. 80. — High woods on the coast of Java. 



An upright bush about 3 feet high, quite smooth in all its parts. 

 Leaves obovate-lanceolate, tapering very much into the petiole, sharply 

 serrate. Spikes short, terminal, branched. Bracts glandular. Anther 

 simple, 2-celled, growing from the side of the ovary. — Properties like 

 those of the last species. 



PIPERACE^E. 



Nat.syst. ed.2. p. 185. 



PIPER. 



Stamens varying in number between 1 and 10. Stigma 

 3-lobed. Fruit baccate. 



634. P. nigrum Linn. sp. pi. 40. Bot. mag. t. 3139. Nees 

 and Eberm. handb. i. 98. plant, med. 21. — P. aromaticum Poir. 

 enc. meth. suppl. v. 458. Fee cours. ii. 618. (Bheede hort. mal. 

 vii. t. 12. Marsderis hist, of Sumatra 105.) Ueirspt Dioscor. — 

 Cultivated in various parts of India and its islands; also in the 

 West Indies. (Black Pepper.) 



Stem trailing or climbing, shrubby, flexuose, and dichotomously 

 branched, jointed, swelling at the joints, and often throwing out 

 radicles there which adhere to bodies like the roots of Ivy, or be- 

 come roots striking into the ground. Leaves from 4 to 6 inches 

 long, alternate, distichous, broadly ovate, acuminated, of a full green 

 and glossy colour, paler beneath, 5 to 7-nerved, the nerves connected 

 by lesser transverse ones or veins, and prominent beneath. Petioles 

 rounded, from half an inch to nearly 1 inch long. Spikes opposite the 

 leaves, chiefly near the upper ends of the branches, stalked, from 3 to 6 

 inches long, slender, drooping, apparently some male, others female, 

 while sometimes the flowers are furnished with both stamens and pistil; 

 stamens 3. Fruit ripening irregularly all the year round, sessile, the 

 size of a pea, at first green, then red, afterwards black, covered by 

 pulp, — The hot acrid black pepper of the shops consists of the berries 

 dried with the pulp adhering ; the white pepper is the same thing only 

 the pulp is washed off before the fruit is dried. It is principally used 

 as a condiment to stimulate the stomach and promote digestion. As a 

 medicine it is employed in the form of ointment mixed with lard, 

 against taenia capitis ; in affections of the mouth and throat requiring a 

 powerful acrid such as relaxed uvula, or paralysis of the tongue it may 

 be employed as a masticatory. In spirit and water it is a popular 

 remedy for preventing the return of a paroxysm of intermitting fever. 

 Pepper is the active" ingredient in a quack medicine called Ward's 

 paste, employed in cases of fistula, piles and ulcers about the rectum. 

 A crystalline substance called Piperin, obtained from this spice, has 



310 



