PIPER. 



been recommended and employed by the Italians as a febrifuge in 

 intermittent fevers. It is said to be more certain and speedy, and 

 also milder in its operation than the Cinchona alkalies. See Pereira 

 in^ Med. Gaz. xx. 180. In excessive doses Pepper is a dangerous 

 stimulant. 



635. P. trioicum Roxb. fl. ind. i. 151. — Mountains of India 

 in the Raja-mundri Circar ; delighting in a moist rich soil, well 

 shaded with trees. 



Roots long, striking deep into the earth. Stem jointed, winding, 

 •when old woody, and scabrous, running along the ground to a great 

 extent, or up trees, &c. when trained to them ; from each joint issue 

 roots which take firm hold of whatever they meet with. Branches 

 numerous, alternate ; the young ones smooth, the old ones woody, 

 and scabrous like the stem. Leaves alternate, petioled, cordate, 

 broad-oval, ovate, or oblong, pointed, glaucous, from 5 to 7-nerved, 

 smooth and glossy. Stipules sheathing, deciduous. Flowers dioeci- 

 ous. <$. Spikes opposite the leaves, stalked, filiform, pendulous, 

 closely imbricated with 5 spiral rows of fleshy, oval, scales. Fila- 

 ments 3, very thick, and very short, scarcely elevating the anthers 

 above the margins of the scales. Anthers" 4-lobed. £. Spikes 

 opposite the leaves, shorter, thicker, and more rigid than in the male, 

 imbricated with 3 spiral rows of scales. Ovary sessile, globose, im- 

 mersed in the substance of the spike. Fruit succulent, small, round, 

 red. Flowers sometimes hermaphrodite. — Fruit exceedingly pungent, 

 reckoned by pepper merchants at Madras equal if not superior to the' 

 best pepper of the Malabar coast or Ceylon. See Roxb. 1. c. for important 

 matter relating to the Pepper vines. 



636. P. longum Linn. sp. pi. 41. Nees. and Eberm. handb. 

 i. 101. plant.med. t. 23. Roxb. fl. ind. i. 154. — (Rheede vii. t.14.) 

 — India, wild among bushes on the banks of water-courses, 

 up towards the Circar mountains ; much cultivated. (Long 

 Pepper.) 



Root woody, perennial. Stems many, creeping, jointed, round, 

 downy when young. Branchlets bearing the fruit erect, with the leaves 

 sessile or nearly so. Leaves on the creeping branches largest, stalked, 

 broad-cordate, 7-nerved; on the erect fruit-bearing branchlets am- 

 plexicaul, oblong-cordate, 5-nerved ; all smooth, somewhat wrinkled; 

 below pale green. Stipules of the petioled leaves 2, adhering to the 

 petiole and lanceolate ; of the sessile leaves intrapetiolar, single, spa- 

 thiform. $ . Spike sessile, opposite a leaf, stalked, erect, cylindrical, 

 imbricated with 5, or more spiral rows of small, orbicular, scales. 

 Ovaries 'sessile, sub-orbicular. Stigma 3 or 4-lobed. Spike of ripe 

 fruit, sub-cylindrical, composed of firmly united 1-seeded drupes. — 

 Female spikes dried form the long pepper of the shops. Root and 

 thickest part of the stems cut into small slices and dried, are much 

 consumed for medical purposes in India under the name of " Pippula 

 Moola." See Roxb. 1. c. The effects of long pepper are analogous to 

 those of black pepper; some consider it less powerful, others are 

 agreed in its being the more acrid of the two. N. B. Woodville's fig. 

 of P. longum, according to Roxb. answers neither to this nor to 

 P. Chaba, the island Long Pepper. 



311 x 4 



