596 PIPERACEH. [| Peperomia. 
2. PEPEROMIA, Ruiz and Pavon. 
Annual or perennial herbs, usually succulent. Leaves alternate 
or opposite or whorled, fleshy or more rarely membranous, often 
pellucid- dotted; stipules wanting. Spikes slender, terminal or 
axillary or leaf-opposed, solitary or fascicled. Flowers hermaphro- 
dite, minute, sessile or sunk in the rhachis of the spike, bracteate ; 
the bract frequently peltate. Perianth wanting. Stamens 2; fila- 
ments very short ; anther-cells confluent. Ovary sessile, obtuse or 
acute, l-celled; stigma usually penicillate; ovule solitary, erect. 
Fruit minute, indehiscent ; seed with a membranous testa. 
A large genus of about 400 species, widely spread in almost all tropical 
regions, but most plentiful in South America. 
Leaves in whorls of 4, coriaceous when dry. Spikes ter- 
minal : se of ae -- -. 1. P. reflexa. 
Leaves alternate, thin and membranous when dry. 
Spikes terminal and axillary ois o .. 2. P. Endlicheri. 
1. P. reflexa, A. Dietr. Sp. Plant. i. 180.—Small, succulent, 
erect or spreading, much branched from the base, 4—9in. high ; 
branches deeply grooved when dry, pubescent at the nodes. Leaves 
in whorls of 8 or 4, rarely opposite, shortly petiolate or almost 
sessile, +4 in. long, elliptic-rhomboidal or almost orbicular, obtuse, 
fleshy when fresh, coriaceous when dry, dark-green above, paler 
beneath, minutely punctate, young leaves beneath and petioles 
finely pubescent, veins obscure. Spikes slender, terminal, peduncu- 
late, 2-14 in. long, dense-flowered ; peduncle and rhachis pubescent. 
Bract orbicular-peltate, almost sessile. Ovary partly immersed in 
the rhachis, ovate, acute; stigma capitellate. Berry exserted, 
ovoid, reddish, , in. long.— Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 206. P. nove- 
zealandie, Col. im Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvu. (1895) 394. Piper 
emulum, Hndl. Prodr. Fl. Norfl. 36. 
NortH Isuanp: Woods near the Kast Cape, H. Hill! 
I have only seen indifferent specimens of this, but there can be no doubt ot 
its identity with P. reflewa, a plant found in most tropical countries, and which 
is common in some parts of Australia, also in Lord Howe Island and Norfolk 
Island. 
2. P. Endlicheri, Mig. Syst. Pip. 102.—A small glabrous suc- 
culent herb 6-12in. high; stems sparingly branched, prostrate and 
rooting at the base, ascending or erect above. Leaves alternate, 
shortly petiolate, }-14in. long, broadly obovate or elliptic-oblong, 
sometimes almost orbicular, rounded at the tip or rarely subacute, 
3-nerved at the base, glabrous, very thick and fleshy when fresh, 
thin and often almost pellucid when dry. Spikes terminal and 
axillary, solitary, peduncled, 1-2in. long. Bract orbicular-peltate. 
Ovary partly immersed; stigma discoid. Berry exserted or im- 
