Piper.| PIPERACEAE. 417 
Orper LXXIX. PIPERACEAE. 
Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, in closely packed spikes, or rarely 
in racemes, each with a subtending bract. Perianth none. Stamens 2—10, 
Ovary 1-celled, with 1 erect atropous ovule. Stigmas 1—6, sessile n 
a short style. Fruit a 1-seeded berry. Embryo minute, saasuea within 
the embryo-sac, at the top of a fleshy albumen. — Herbs, shrubs or 
climbers, sometimes succulent, often articulate at the nodes, Leaves 
didrata: opposite or in whorls, entire, with or without stipules. 
A considerable Order, almost entirely tropical, ranging over the New and Old World. 
Flowers dioecious; spikes opposite the leaves; anthers 4-valved 1. Piper. 
Flowers iviie pibnctee: spikes axillary and saiatoink: ctu eel 2. Peperomia. 
1. PIPER, L. 
Flowers polygamous or dioecious. Bracts free. Stamens 2 or 3, rarely 4; 
the anthers articulate, 4-valved, opening laterally. Ovary with 3 or 4, 
rarely 5 stigmas. — Shrubs, undershrubs or woody climbers, the stems 
with scattering vascular fibres inside of a fibro-vascular annulus. Leaves 
wre alternate and the spikes opposite the leaves. 
arge genus dispersed over all tropical regions. In cultivation: the Siri or Betel 
Pepper P. Betle, L. 
1. P. methysticum, Forst. — Cas. DC. in Prod. XVI, Sect. L, p. 354. — 
Dioecious. Stems erect, 2—3 ft. high, glabrous, fleshy, with a thick mate: 
wooded rhizome. Stipul es free, soon caducous, linear-laneceolate, 11/2 
long. Leaves alternate on petioles of about 1’, broadly cordate-ovate, 
with a deep sinus at the base, shortly acuminate, about 6’ long and more 
in breadth, membranous, green on both faces and glabrous, except on 
the Bebe ulete nerves, prominently 11—13-nerved, the 3 middle nerves. 
joining at the apex. Male spikes single, 2—21/2‘ long including a pe 
f d 
duncle of 4—6” ensely flowered. Bracts peltate, imbricate at first. 
Stamens 2; anthers subglobose, woe than the filaments. Fem. spikes? 
— Hook. & Arn, in Bot. Beech. p. 96. — Deless. Ic. p. 53, tab. 89. 
Macropiper latifolium, Miq. 
from which hg Polynesians extract their well known intoxicating 
see. truly wild state, but it is Teg napeghiennne in 
h 4 
beve 
clearings of the forests, particularly on a _ natives guis angen 
incipall The enehek os 
e mah 
also on the Marquesas, Society, renee “Viti ‘and Wallis Is ands. 
2. PEPEROMIA, Ruiz. & Pav. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Bracts free, orbicular, peltate. Stamens 2, 
lateral to the ovary. Anthers not articulate, 2-valved, opening outward. 
Ovary sessile; stigma simple, penicillate or minute. Pericarp thin. — 
Herbs with alternate, opposite or whorled leaves, the spikes in -— 
Hillebrand, ‘Flora of the Hawaiian Islands. 27 
