Piper.| PIPERACER. 595 
Usually shrubby. Anther-cells 2, distinct. Stigmas 2-4 1. Pripmr. 
Small fleshy herbs. Anther-cells confluent. Stigmas 
usually penicillate. Fruit very small! 30 .. 2, PEPEROMIA. 
1. PIPER, Linn. 
Shrubs or rarely small trees or tall herbs ; branches often jointed 
and swollen at the nodes. Leaves alternate, entire, equal or un- 
equal at the base; stipules often adnate to the petiole. Spikes 
slender, solitary and leaf-opposed, or solitary or 2-3 together in the 
axils, sometimes umbelled on a common peduncle. Flowers dic- 
cious or hermaphrodite, minute, closely packed, each one situated in 
the axil of a peltate or cupular or adnate bract, with or without 
lateral bracteoles. Perianth wanting. Stamens 1-4; filaments 
short; anthers 2-celled, the cells often placed back to back, longi- 
tudinally dehiscent. Ovary sessile, l-celled; stigmas 2-5, distinct ; 
ovule solitary, erect. Berry small, ovoid or globose. Seed with a 
membranous testa; albumen hard. 
One of the largest genera of the vegetable kingdom, containing more than 
500 described species ; found in all tropical countries, and specially plentiful in 
tropical South America. 
1. P. excelsum, Forst. Prodr. n. 20.—An aromatic perfectly 
glabrous densely branched shrub or small tree 8-20ft. high ; 
branches smooth, flexuose, jointed and .swollen at the nodes. 
Leaves petiolate, 2-5 in. long including the petiole, orbicular-cordate 
or broadly ovate, shortly acuminate, cordate at the base or some- 
times truncate or rounded, 7-nerved from the base, smooth and 
glabrous’ on both surfaces, yellowish-green ; petioles 4-14in. long, 
lower portion broadly winged on each side by the adnate stipules. 
Spikes unisexual, solitary or binate, terminating short peduncles or 
branchlets springing from the axils of the leaves, slender, strict, 
erect, 1-3in. long. Flowers minute, very densely packed, the 
bract orbicular-peltate, sessile. Stamens 2 or rarely 3. Stigmas 3 
or rarely 4. Berries densely compacted, small, yellow, broadly 
obovoid, angled, succulent.—A. Rich. Fl. Nowv. Zel. 8356; A. Cunn. 
Precur. n. 323; Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 228; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 254; Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 204. Macropiper 
excelsum, Mig. Syst. Pip. 221; F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is. 48. 
Var. major.— Leaves larger, 4-Sin. long, usually 9-nerved. Spikes longer, 
sometimes 6in. Approaches P. latifoliwn, Forst. 
Kermapec [suanps: Var. major abundant, McGillivray, T. F. C. Norra 
IsLaAND: Var. major plentiful on the Three Kings Islands, the ordinary form 
common from thence southwards. SoutH Isnanp: In lowland districts from 
Nelson and Marlborough to Banks Peninsula and Okarito, usually near the coast. 
CHATHAM IsLANDS: Not uncommon, Travers! Cox! Kawakawa. Flowers 
most of the year. 
Plentiful in Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island, also recorded from 
Tahiti and others of the Pacific islands. The fruit and leaves are aromatic and 
stimulating, and a decoction of the latter has been used for toothache. 
