PIPERACER. 47 
thinly coriaceous, 3-7 in. long, elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, obtusely 
caudate-acuminate, base acute ; nerves prominent beneath ; petioles 
slender, }-} in. ; leaves of the climbing stems much smaller, orbicular, 
pointed. Matz spikes 2-3 in. long, slender, drooping ; bracts minute, 
peltate. Stamens 2, anthers reniform; cells confluent, dehiscing 
across the tip. Frm. spikes very shortly peduncled }-4 in. diam., 
globose or shortly oblong in fruit. Berries ~5 in. in diam. ; stigmas 
3, very minute. 
Dehra Dun on the banks of the Re nadi (Kanjilal), Sub-Himalayan 
tracts of N. Oudh in damp places (Duthie). Distr1B.: Sub-tropical 
Himalaya from Simla to Bhutan, up to 5,000 ft.; also on the 
Khasia and Nilgiri Hills. 
Pirrr BETLE, Linn.; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 158 ; F.B.1., v, 85 ; Duthie Field 
and Gard. Crops N. W. Prov. md Oudh tii, 51, tt. 91 and 91A ; Watt 
E. D.; Comm. Prod. Ind. 891; Gamble Man, 554 ; Brandis Ind. 
Trees 523 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. ii, 528. Vern. Pan, tambuli, etc. (Betel 
pepper).—A perennial dicecious creeper extensively cultivated in the 
hotter and damper parts of India and in Ceylon extending to the Malay 
Islands. It is believed to have come originally from Java. The leaves 
mixed with portions of areca-nut, lime and catechu, are universally 
chewed by thenatives of India, to which are added by well-to-do 
classes other ingredients such as cardamoms, nutmeg and camphor. 
For further particulars as to cultivation, etc., see Watt’s Comm. Prod. 
of India 891. 
P. nicrum, J. Vern. Gul-mirch, kala-mirch. (Black pepper).—This 
furnishes the ordinary pepper of commerce, black and white, the 
latter resulting in the grinding of the fruit after the removal of the 
outer skin. The plant is wild in Travancore and Malabar, and is 
cultivated in the hotter parts of India and in Ceylon and in the tropics 
genorally. 
PEPEROMIA PELLUCIDA, H. B. & K.; Prain Beng. Pl. 894 ; Cooke Fl. 
Bomb. ii, 629.—A slender much-branched glabrous and succulent 
annual. Has been introduced comparatively recently from %. 
America, and is becoming naturalized in various parts of India, and 
as a weed in the gardens of N. India. 
XCV.—LAURACEZ. 
Aromatic trees or shrubs, very rarely (Cassytha) leafless para- 
sites. Leaves usually alternate, gland-dotted, exstipulate. Flowers 
