170 A FLORA OF MANILA 
1. P. PELLUCIDA HBK. 
An annual, very succulent, erect, branched herb, 5 to 40 cm high, the 
stems round, often 5 mm thick, pale-green. Leaves ovate, acute or obtuse, 
base broad, cordate, pale-green, pellucid, shining, 1 to 8 em long. Spikes 
green, erect, slender, 1 to 6 cm long, the fruits globose, brownish, less than 
1 mm thick. 
Very common in damp shaded places, on damp walls etc., fl. all the year. 
A native of tropical America, now widely distributed in most tropical 
countries. 
*2,. P. ARGYREIA Morren. 
A glabrous plant with large peltate leaves longitudinally striped or 
blotched with gray between the nerves, the stems and petioles purplish. 
Petioles up to 15 cm long. Leaves broadly ovate, 8 to 15 cm long, apex 
shortly and broadly acuminate, base rounded, the nerves 8 to 10, the 
flowering stalk sometimes bearing much smaller reduced leaves which are 
often not peltate. Spikes very slender, up to 10 cm in length. 
Cultivated, Singalon, fl. at intervals all the year. Of recent introduction 
here, a native of tropical America. 
2. PIPER Linnaeus 
More or less climbing shrubs with swollen nodes, aromatic when crushed. 
Leaves entire, usually unequally sided, pointed, usually longitudinally 
nerved. Flowers small, dioecious, rarely perfect, in short or elongated 
spikes, each flower subtended by a small bract, frequently also with lateral. 
bracteoles, the former peltate or cupular and adnate to the rachis. 
Perianth none. Stamens 1 to 4; filaments short; anthers 2-celled. Ovary 
1-celled, 1-ovuled; stigmas 2 to 5. Fruit ovoid or globose, usually yellow 
or red. (The ancient Latin name.) 
Species about 650, in all tropical countries, over 100 in the Philippines. 
1. Fruit imbedded in the pulp of the mature spike. 
2. Leaf multiplinerved, that is some of the nerves basal, others leaving 
the midrib above the ‘base.020.00 2 eee 1. P. betle 
2. Leaf penninerved, all the nerves leaving the midrib, none basal. 
2. P. retrofractum 
1. Fruit free, not imbedded in pulp; leaves 7-nerved from the base. 
, 3. P. loheri 
1. P. BETLE L. Icmo (Tag.); Betel Pepper. 
A glabrous climbing vine reaching a height of 2 to 4 m. Upper leaves 
ovate, 10 to 18 cm long, mostly 7-nerved from near the base, the outer 
pair of nerves free to the base, apex acuminate, base somewhat inequi- 
laterally rounded or cordate, the petioles 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, sheathing. 
Male spikes about as long as the leaves, about 2 mm in diameter, the 
rachis hirsute. Female spikes, when mature, red, fleshy, 2 to 4 cm long, 
0.5 to 1 em thick. (FI. Filip. pl. 12.) 
Cultivated extensively in Pasay, fi. occasionally; throughout the Philip- 
pines, wild and cultivated, probably introduced. Cultivated in all tropical 
countries. 
2. P. retrofractum Vahl. Sabia (Tag.). 
Climbing, reaching a height of 2 to 4 m, glabrous. Leaves short-petioled, 
pale when dry, oblong- to ovate-elliptic, 8.5 to 16 cm long, base acute, 
