PIPERACEAE 169 
formed of the enlarged hardened bracts and bracteoles together forming 
2-valved cavities enclosing the compressed, winged achenes, the wing 
terminal. 
A single genus, species mostly Australian, a few Malayan and Polynesian. 
. 
1. CASUARINA Forster 
Characters of the Family. (From the Latin name of the cassowary, on 
account of the resemblance of the branches to the feathers of that bird.) 
Species about 25, 3 in the Philippines, one cultivated in our area. 
1. C. equisetifolia Forst. Agoho (Tag.). 
A dioecious tree, 15 m high or less, the crown narrowly pyramidal, 
resembling some of the conifers in appearance. Branchlets very slender 20 
cm long or less, deciduous, composed of many joints, the internodes 1 cm 
long or less. Somewhat 6- to 8-angled, suleate. Staminate spikes slender, 
1 to 3 cm long. Cones usually ellipsoid, 1 to 2 em long, composed of about 
12 rows of achenes enclosed in the hardened bracts. 
Cultivated for ornamental purposes, fl. most of the year; widely dis- 
tributed in the Philippines along the seashore and some rivers, the wood 
very hard. India to Australia and Polynesia; cultivated in other tropical 
countries. 
34. PIPERACEAE! (PEPPER OR ICMO FAMILY) 
Succulent herbs or climbing woody or subherbaceous vines, usually 
aromatic. Leaves simple, entire, alternate, rarely opposite or whorled, 
‘frequently inequilateral; stipules none or 2 and connate, or adnate to the 
petiole. Flowers minute, 1- or 2-sexual, rarely perfect, in axillary or 
terminal, usually slender, catkin-like spikes. Perianth none. Stamens 2 
to 6. Ovary 1-celled; stigma sessile, simple or penicillate; ovules solitary. 
Fruit a small, ovoid or globose drupe, often in dense, fleshy, cylindric spikes. 
Genera 9, species 1,200 or more in’ the tropics of both hemispheres, 2 
genera and about 125 species in the Philippines. 
Low succulent herbs with minute fruits, the stigmas usually penicillate. 
1. Peperomia 
Climbing suffrutescent or somewhat woody vines, the fruits not minute, the 
IS UB SVC i ates R= el an OR SER i ae 2. Piper 
1. PEPEROMIA Ruiz & Pavon 
Annual or perennial, small, simple or branched, succulent herbs. Leaves 
alternate, opposite, or whorled, entire, without stipules. Spikes terminal 
or leaf-opposed, solitary or fascicled, rarely axillary. Flowers minute, 
perfect, sessile or sunk in the rachis of the slender spikes, bracteate. 
Stamens 2. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled; stigma usually penicillate. Fruit 
minute, indehiscent. (Greek “pepper-like.’’) 
Species 400 or more, in all tropical countries, chiefly American, 22 in the 
Philippines. 
Leaves 1 to 3 cm long, pale-green, base cordate, not peltate....1. P. pellucida 
Leaves up to 15 cm long, green, longitudinally striped with gray, base 
rounded, peltate; cultivated only....................-----.-ce--1cc2-e0e--ee 2. P. argyreia 

1For a consideration of the Philippine species see De Candolle, C., “A 
Revision of Philippine Piperaceae.” Philip. Journ. Sci. 5 (1910) Bot. 
405-463. 
