364 AracecB. [Pot/ws. 



seeds compressed, endosperm o, embryo macropodal. — Sp. 

 about 50; 16 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Petiole broad, flat i. P. scandens. 



Petiole slender 2. P. remotifoliuS. 



1. P. scandens, Z. Sp. PL 968 (1753). Pota-wel, 5. 



Herm. Mus. 6. Burm. Thes. 197. Fl. Zeyl. n. 329. Moon, Cat. 11. 

 Thw. Enum. 336. C. P. 2321. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 551. Wight, Ic. t. 776. 



Stem as thick as the little finger, terete, smooth, copiously 

 branched and leafy, the plant clothing tree trunks and walls 

 like ivy, internodes ^-i in.; 1. very variable, 2-4 by \-2 in., 

 obovate, oval or lanceolate, acute, acuminate or apiculate, 

 coriaceous, bright green, base cuneate or rounded, petiole 

 broadly winged, 1-3 by \-\ in., base i-amplexicaul ; ped. \-\ in., 

 base clothed with imbricating, acute, coriaceous bracts; spathe 

 \-\ in., cymbiform, cuspidate, green ; spadix as long as the 

 spathe, stipitate, globose, ovoid or shortly oblong, stipes as 

 long as the infl. ; fl. immersed in the rhachis; fil. short, broad, 

 anth. terminal, minute, cells divaricate; ov. 3-celled, truncate, 

 stigma minute, lobulate; berries \-^ in. long, oblong, scarlet, 

 i&w ripening. 



Var. /^, Hookeri, E^ii^l. Man. Arac. 84. P. Hookcri, Schott, Aroid. 

 i, 23. Hook. Ic. PI. t. 175 (from a Ceylon specimen). 



L. lanceolate, acuminate, ped. ii-2i in., decurved, spathe 

 ■5 ^ 1". 



Climbing on tree-trunks in the low country ; very common. Fl. 

 Feb.-April. 



Throughout India, Burma, China, and Malaya. 



Extremely variable in length of petioles and peduncles; var. /3 seems 

 scarcely worth separating, but it is kept up as a species in Fl. B. Ind. 

 Seeds eaten after boiling. 



2. P. remotiflorus, Hook. Ic. Plant, ii. t. 135 (1837). 



P. elliptica, Moon, Cat. 11 ; Miq. Prod. Fl. Bat. iii. 182; Trim. Syst. 

 Cat. 98. Thw. Enum. T)T)7. Piper ve/ii/stum, Wall. Cat. n. 6666. C. P. 



2432. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 555. Hook. Ic. I'l. t. 135. 



Stem in mature plants elongate, scandent, much-branched, 

 rigid, flexuous; in a very early state stems filiform, creeping, 

 closely apprcsscd to stones or bark; 1. dimor[)hous, in mature 

 plant 3-6 by l-l in. long, more or less unequal-sided, linear, 

 oblong-lanceolate, oblong or oblanceolate, coriaceous, acute, 

 cuspidate or caudate-acuminate with the tip sometimes 2 in. 

 long, petiole very slender, divergent from the branch, sheath 

 narrow, about half its length ; 1. in very young plants, 

 bifarious, appressed to stones or bark, orbicular or ovate- 



