94 BOTANY. 



leaves, and spiked or racemose flowers. Natives of the hottest quarters of the 

 globe. Common in South America nnd India. The wood is often arranged in 

 wedges, with medullary rays, but without concentric zones. There are twenty- 

 one known genera, and upwards of six hundred species. Examples : Piper, 

 Artanthe, Peperomia. 



The plants of this order have pungent, acrid, and aromatic properties. 

 Most of them contain an acrid resin, and a peculiar principle called piperine. 

 Black pepper is the dried unripe fruit of Piper nigrum, and white pepper 

 the ripe fruit deprived of its outer covering. Cubeba officinalis, a Javan 

 plant, furnishes Cubeb pepper. The Kava of the South Sea Islands is the 

 root of Piper methysticum, and is employed in jn-eparing an intoxicating 

 beverage. The Betel leaf from Piper betle, is chewed in the East with the 

 Areca nut. 



Piper nigrum, Black pepper (East Indies) {pi. 1%fig. 6) ; a, a branch with 

 flowers and fruit ; h, portion of a catkin magnified ; c, portion of the same 

 dried and magnified; d, berry: e-/. section of the fruit; g, embryo; Ä, 

 anther; /, unripe berry dried and constituting black pepper; k, white 

 pepper. 



Order 46. Saururace.e, the Lizard's-^il Family. Flowers bisexual. 

 Perianth 0, a scale or bract supporting the flowers. Stamens three to six, 

 clavate, hypogynous, persistent ; filaments slender ; anthers two-celled, continu- 

 ous with the filament, with a thick connective separating the lobes, dehiscence 

 longitudinal. Ovaries three to four, distinct. Avith one ascending orthotropal 

 ovule, and a sessile recurved stigma, or united so as to form a three- to 

 four-celled pistil, with several ovules and three to four stigmas. Fruit 

 either consisting of four fleshy indehiscent nuts, or a one-, three-, or four- 

 celled capsule, dehiscing at the apex, and containing a few ascending 

 seeds. Seeds Avith a membranous spermoderm ; embryo minute, lying in a 

 fleshy vitellus, outside of hard mealy albumen, at the apex of the seed. 

 Herbs growing in marshy places, Avith alternate stipulate leaves, and spiked 

 flowers. Natives of North America, India, and China. Their properties 

 are said to be acrid. There are four knoAvn genera, according to Lindley, 

 and sev^en species. Examples : Saururus, Houttuynia. The species 

 Saururus cernuus or Lizard's-tail. represents the family in the United 

 States. 



Order 47. CHLORANTHACE.E.the Chloranthus Family. Flowers bisexual 

 or unisexual, with a supporting scale. Perianth 0, stamens definite, lateral, 

 and if more than one, connate : anthers monothecal, Avith longitudinal dehis- 

 cence, each adnate to a fleshy connective. OA-ary unilocular ; ovule solitary, 

 pendulous, orthotropal ; stigma sessile, simple. Fruit drupaceous, indehiscent. 

 Seed pendulous ; embryo minute, at the apex of fleshy albumen ; cotyledons 

 divaricate ; radicle inferior, remote from the hilum. Herbs or undershrubs, 

 with jointed stems, opposite, simple, stipulate leaves, sheathing petioles, and 

 spiked floAvers. Natives of the Avarm regions of India and America. Some 

 of them, as Chloranthus officinalis, are aromatic and fragrant, and have 

 been used as stimulants and tonics. Examples: Hedyosmium, Ascarina, 



Chloranthus. 

 94 



