PIPERACEAE 331 



1. Saunirus cernuus L. Foliage dark green, glabrous, or glabrate below, the young 

 parts and the inflorescence finely pubescent. Stems 3-12 dm. tall, erect from a swollen 

 base, which gives off slender roots at the nodes, simple or branched above, angled :^ leaf- 

 blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, or sometimes slightly hastate, 8-15 cm. long, acuminate, 

 slightly wavy-margined, cordate and often slightly auricled at the base, commonly pubes- 

 cent on the nerves ; petioles winged, often as long as the blades : racemes 1-2 dm. long, 

 villous : filaments thickened upward, about 4 mm. long : ovary glabrous : fruit depressed, 

 2.5-3 mm. broad; carpels nearly distinct, very strongly wrinkled, brown: seed ovoid- 

 globose, 0.7 mm. long, shining and transversely wrinkled under an ash-colored coat. 



In marshes and along streams, Ontario to Minnesota, Connecticut, Florida and Texas. Summer. 



LlZARD'S-TAIL. 



FAMILY 2. PIPERACEAE H.B.K. PEPPER FAMILY. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees, with tissues of a firm or a flimsy texture, often pos- 

 sessing spicy or aromatic properties. Leaves leathery, or fleshy, alternate, 

 opposite or whorl ed : blades usually entire, often pellucid-punctate: stipules 

 present or wanting. Flowers perfect or unisexual, in solitary or clustered spikes 

 or rarely in racemes, subtended by cup-shaped or peltate bractlets. Perianth 

 wanting. Androeciurh of 2-6, or rarely 8 or 10 stamens inserted under the ovary. 

 Filaments distinct, sometimes adnate to the base of the ovary. Anthers attached 

 at the base, the 2 sacs often confluent. Gynoecium of 3 or rarely more united 

 carpels. Ovary 1-celled, sessile or nearly so. Stigmas 3 or many in a brush- 

 like mass. Ovule solitary, erect, orthotropous. Fruit drupaceous, indehiscent, 

 with a fleshy or thin and'almost dry pericarp. Seed solitary, with a membran- 

 ous or leathery testa. Endosperm mealy, with the minute embryo at the top. 



1. FEPEROMIA E. & P. 



Annual or perennial caulescent herbs, with creeping often tuberous rootstocks. Leaves 

 alternate, opposite or whorled : blades fleshy, often pellucid -punctate, sometimes very thin. 

 Flowers perfect, minute, in dense or open slender spikes furnished with peltate bractlets. 

 Stamens 2 : filaments usually short : anthers transversely broadened, 2-valved, extrorse, 

 the cavities confluent. Pistil solitary : stigmas forming a brush-like tuft. Fruit small, often 

 minute, with a thin pericarp. Seed shaped like the pericarp. 



Leaf-blades thin. 3-nerved, 1-4 cm. long : spikes loosely flowered. 1. P. leptostachya. 



Leaf-blades leathery, 5-9-nerved, 6-12 cm. long : spikes densely flowered. 2. P. magnoliaefolia . 



1. Peperomia leptostachya (Nutt.) Chapm. Foliage finely pubescent. Stems 

 erect, 1-4 dm. tall, slender, closely jointed below, simple or branched above, fleshy : leaves 

 opposite or whorled ; blades 1-4 cm. long, thin, 3-nerved, the lower ones broadly cuneate, 

 truncate or retuse at the apex, the upper ones varying from obovate to ovate, obtuse or 

 acutish, all petioled : spikes very slender, 2-6 cm. long, loosely-flowered ; bractlets peltate, 

 0.6-0.7 mm. in diameter: stamens shorter than the ovary. 



In woods and hammocks, peninsular and eastern Florida. 



2. Peperomia magnoliaefolia (Jacq.) C. DC. Foliage glabrous. Stem stout: 

 leaves alternate ; blades leathery, oval varying to ovate or obovate, or rarely broadly cu- 

 neate, 6-12 cm. long, truncate, obtuse or notched at the apex, entire, dull, on short, slightly 

 winged petioles, 5-9-nerved : spikes slender, 5-10 cm. long, densely flowered : bractlets 

 peltate, 0.3-0.4 mm. in diameter : stamens shorter than the ovary. 



In rich woods and hammocks, peninsular Florida. Also in tropical America. 



Order 2. CASUARINALES. 



Shrubs or trees destitute of proper leaves, with loosely jointed angled 

 branches. Leaves reduced to scales ; these small, appressed or recurved, 4 or 

 more in a whorl at a node, sometimes united into a sheathing base, the midrib 

 decurrent on the branches. Flowers unisexual : staminate in slender cylindric 

 or 4-angled terminal spikes, subtended by imbricated bracts, often with an ante- 

 rior and posterior perianth-part, 1 stamen and a large anther with sacs opening 

 lengthwise. Pistillate flowers in dense spikes or cones : perianth wanting : ovary 

 1-celled ; styles slightly united at the base, the 2 branches slender. Ovules 1-2 



