156 cxiii. PIPERACE.E (baker AND WRIGHT). \Pe})et'oinia, 



leaves, about an inch long, with a distinct midrib and two faint lateral 

 main nerves. 



27. P. laeteviridis, Engl. Jahrh. xxvi. 361. Stem ascending, 

 simple or slightly branched, 1-14 ft. high, rather thick, glabroufc^. 

 Lower leaves alternate, upper opposite, ovate or oblong, about IJ in. 

 long, about 1 in. broad, herbaceous, glabrous, bright green, 3-nerved ; 

 lateral nerves reaching from the base nearly to the apex ; petiole up to 

 5 lin. long. Spike solitary, terminal, 2J lin. long ; peduncle 9 lin. long ; 

 bracts peltate. Stamens short, as long as the bracts. Ovary ovoid ; 

 stigma minute. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons: in damp sliady places in woods at Lolodorf,. 

 Staudf, 338. 



Order CXIV. MYRISTICACEiE. (By 0. Stapf.) 



Flowers dia^cious, apetalous. Perianth 3- (rarely 2-5-) lobed or 

 partite, infundibuliform to globose or patelliform; lobes valvate. Male 

 flower: Stamens 2-30; lilamerits united into a central, sometimes- 

 very short column ; anthers arranged in a ring and adnate to the column 

 or tree or fused into a globular mass, 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally; 

 rudimentary ovary 0. Female flower : Staminodes 0. Ovary superior, 

 sessile, 1-celled ; stigma sessile or subsessile, usually more or less 

 minutely 2 - lobed ; ovule 1, subbasal, anatropous. Fruit fleshy, nearly 

 always dehiscing by 2 valves. Seed erect, with a thin or fleshy,, 

 entire, lobed or laciniate, frequently vividly coloured aril ; testa of 3 

 layers, the outer membranous or fleshy, the middle crustaceous or 

 woody, the inner membranous, usually intruding into the folds of the 

 often ruminate endosperm ; endosperm replete with fat and often 

 also starch. Embryo small or very small, near the base; cotyledons> 

 ascending and divergent or divaricate or connate into a disk or cup. — 

 Trees, frequently aromatic. Leaves alternate, entire, penninerved,. 

 often with pellucid dots (oil-glandt^). Flowers small or very small,, 

 particularly the male, fascicled, racemose, umbellate or capitate ; the 

 partial inflorescences often gathered in panicles, racemes, or compound 

 heads, frequently bracteate, but generally without bracteoles ; female 

 inflorescences usually less compound than the male and fewer. In- 

 florescences axillary (sometimes from the axils of fallen or arrested 

 leaves). 



iSpecies about 235, in the tropics of both hemispheres. 



In adopting the genera as propo-ed by Professor Warburg in his exhaustive 

 monograph of ihe M yristicacecB, rwiher than reducing them to subdivisions of one 

 large genus, Myristica, I was mainly led by two considerations : first, the appre- 

 ciation of the great progress, marked by that monograph, in our knowledge of the 

 family; and, secondly, the conviction that no good could be done by brenking away, 

 in a work like this and in dealing with so small a number of species, from a con- 

 ception of the family which has all the merit of thoroughnees and consistency. 



