LAURINE^. 345 



up the midrib running to the tips. Berry % inch. Wight 

 Ic. t. 1935. 



Cultivated only, the Pepper of commerce. 



PEPEROMIA. F.B.I. 124 III. 



Pepper-elder. 

 Succulent herbs with alternate opposite or whorled, 

 entire exstipulate gland-dotted leaves, and terminal or 

 leaf-opposed spikes of small flowers imbedded in them. 

 Stamens two with confluent anther-cells. Ovary with no 

 style, but a sessile fringed stigma and containing a single 

 erect ovule. Distinguished from Piper by the minute, 

 not fleshy fruit, the anthers and the distinct stigmas. 



Species 400, in hot climates of both Old and New World. 



Pepcromia reflexa A. Dietr. ; F.B.I, v 99, EI 10. 

 A small glossy herb common on the branches of trees. 

 Stem weak, rooting at the nodes. Leaves in fours, J4 

 to 5^ inch, ovate, succulent. Spikes terminal, erect, ^ to 

 I inch. t. 230. Wight Ic. t. 1933. 



On trees whenever damp, very common. Fyson 6166. 

 Bourne 215. 



Gen. DisL Himalayas, Khasia, South Indian hills, Burma, China, 

 Australia, Africa, America. 



In t. 230. a part of spike showing flowers sunk in the hollows ; b male 

 flower ; c female flower ; d fruit. 



LAURINE/E. 



Aromatic shrubs or trees with nearly always alternate 

 and evergreen, gland-dotted, exstipulate, simple leaves. 

 Flowers small variously arranged in axillary cymes 

 panicles, or racemes, or often in clusters surrounded 

 and enclosed in bud by concave bracts. Perianth a tube 

 with usually six lobes, not obviously separable into sepals 

 and petals. Stamens typically twelve, in four whorls of 



