144 cxiii. PiPERACE.E (baker AND wright). [Piper. 



embryo minute. — Herbs or shrubs, erect or climbing. Leaves usually 

 alternate and entire, rarely opposite or verticillate ; stipules none or 

 adnate to the petiole. Flowers minute, usually forming dense spikes, 

 each subtended by a peltate bract. 



Species about 1000, spread through the wanner regions of both hemispheres; 

 most numei'ous in Tropical America. 



Shrubs. Stamens 2-6; anther-cells usually distinct. 



Stigmas 2-3 1. Piper. 



Herbs. Stamens 2 ; anther-cells usually confluent. 



Stigma 1 -• Peperomia. 



1. PIPER, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. li'i). 



Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, usually forming dense cylin- 

 drical spikes, rarely racemes. Perianth none. Stamens 2-i, rarely 

 more; filaments short; anther-cells usually distinct. Ovary sessile, 

 ]-celled, 1-ovuled, obtuse or rostrate; sti^jmas 2-4, distinct, erect or 

 recurved. Berry small, usually globose, often immersed in the succu- 

 lent rhachis, more rarely stalked. Seed similar in shape to the berry; 

 testa thin ; endosperm and perisperm usually hard. — Erect or scandent 

 shrubs. Branches jointed at the nodes. Leaves alternate, entire, 

 equal or unequal at the base, penninerved ; stipules adnate to the 

 petiole or connate into a leaf-opposed sheath. Flowers usually sessile 

 spikes terminal or leaf-opposed. 



Species about 600, spread through the wanner regions of both hemispheres. 



Stigmas 3. . 



Spikes 2-7, umbellately arranged . . .1. P. umhellatum. 



Spikes solitary 2. P. guineense. 



Stigmas 2. 



Branches glabrous. 



Leaves villous on the nerves beneath . . 3. P. capense. 



Leaves glabrous. 



Leaves cordate or rounded at the base. 



Podinicle twice as long as the petiole . 4. P. Molleri. 



Peduncle as long as the petiole . . 5. /*. pseiidosylvaticum. 



Leaves acute at the base . . . . 6. P. sclerorl actum. 



Brandies pubescent 7. P. hrachy rhachis. 



1. P. umbellatum, Linn. Sp. PI. ed. i. oO. A shrub, 4-n ft. 

 high ; branches stout, ilexuous, glabrous. Leaves roundish reniform, 

 8-12 in. across, cuspidate, deeply cordate at the base, membranous, 

 glabrous on both surfaces or pubescent on the nerves beneath ; nerves 

 11-13, radiating from the apex of the petiole; petiole dilated and 

 sheathing at the base. Spikes 2-7, umbellately arranged on short 

 axillary peduncles, 2-3 in. long, 2 lin. in diam. Flowers minute, her- 

 maphrodite ; bracts shortly stalked, suborbicular, distinctly ciliate. 

 Stigmas 3. Fiuit turbinate, trigonous. — Jacq. Ic. t. 21t) ; C. DC. in 

 DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 332; Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. i. 911. P. sub- 

 peltatum,W\\\d. Sp. PI. i. 16B ; C. DC. I.e. 333; Baker, Fl. Maurit. 



