Piper 



PIPEEAGE^ 



27 



Family II. CHLORANTHACE^. 



Aromatic shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite, serrate, penni- 

 veined, stipules connate into a sheath and enclosing the stem. 

 Inflorescence terminal or axillary. Flowers hermaphrodite or 



Fig. 3. — Hedyosmum nutans Sw. 

 A, End of shoot with male («) and female C, Female flower. 



(6) Inflorescences. 

 Male flower. 



D, Fruit of //. arboreseens Sw., cut length- 

 wise (after Baillon). 



unisexual. Male flowers spicate ; perianth wanting. Stamens ; 

 filaments veiy short, continuous with the connective ; anthers 

 2-celled. Female flowers paniculate ; perianth superior, incon- 

 spicuous. Ovary 1-celled ; ovule single, orthotropous, pendulous 

 from the apex. Drupe small, ovoid or globose, exocarp succulent. 

 Seed of same shape, pendulous ; embryo minute at the base of a 

 copious endosperm. 



About 40 species, distributed through tropical America, 

 tropical and east Asia, and the islands of the Pacific to New 

 Zealand. 



