Piper] cxxiv. PIPERACE^:. (J. D. Hooker.) 91 



DC. 1. c. 242. Muldera multmervis & Wightiana, Miq. in Hook. Lond. 

 Journ. Sot. v. 557-8. Eheede Hort. Mai. vii. 23, t. 12. 



Native in the forests of the CIECAES an,d ? of ASSAM and MALABAII ; cultivated in 

 hot damp parts of India, Ceylon and the tropics generally. 



Branches stout, trailing and rooting at the nodes. Leaves 5-7 by 2-5 in., 

 most variable in breadth, sometimes glaucous beneath ; base acute rounded or cordate, 

 equal or unequal ; nerves stout, 2-3 pairs basal, with another pair higher up which 

 run to the tip ; petiole i~l^ in., stout. Floicers usually dioecious, but often the 

 female bears 2 anthers, or the male a pistillode ; anthers 2-celled. Fruiting spik.es 

 very variable in length and robustness, rachis glabrous. Fruit globose, sessile, red, 

 pulp thin. The distinctions, if any, between the wild and cultivated black Peppers 

 (P. nigrum and trioicum} want careful study, from fresh specimens. Roxburgh, who 

 first distinguished them, gives no other character than that the leaves of P. trioicum 

 are glaucous beneath. Miquel,\vho retained both species in his Systema, observes that 

 P. trioicum has less coriaceous narrower more lanceolate leaves, less white beneath, 

 and in the Fl. Ind. Bat. he simply refers to trioicum as perhaps the wild form of nigrum. 

 Clarke has collected in the Khasia, (at Amwee, alt. 3000 ft.) a membranous-leaved 

 pepper otherwise like P. .nigrum with young female spikes. 1 have examined 

 authentic specimens of Muldera Wightiana and multinervis in Arnott's Herbarium, 

 and do not see how they differ from P. nigrum ; those of M. Wightiana are in male 

 flower only. The transversely dehiscing female receptacle of M. multinervis described 

 by Miquel seems to me to be formed of the ordinary bracts and bracteoles of P. nigrum. 

 I however advance this with hesitation, for our knowledge of the specific limits of 

 P. nigrum are as vague as of its geographical. 



35. P. zeylanicum, Miq. in Lond. Journ. Bot. iv. 436 ; quite gla- 

 brous, branches terete stout woody, nodes much thickened, leaves small 

 long-petioled coriaceous broadly ovate or ovate-cordate acuminate 3-5-nerved 

 from the base, nerves and nervules impressed above very prominent beneath, 

 peduncles longer than the petioles, fruiting spikes short robust, bracts 

 adnate tips raised in fruit, fruit globose smooth densely crowded. Cas. 

 DC. in Prodr. xvi. 1. 366. P. arcuatum, Thwaites Enum. 293, in part (C. P. 

 2177). 



CEYLON ; in the higher parts of the central province, Walker, &c. 



Dark brown when dry, much branched. Leaves 1^-2| by 1-1 in., paler beneath, 

 often bullate above, base usually equal; petiole J-l in. Male spikes 1-1 in. ; bracts 

 closely imbricate, the lowest sometimes oblong and peltate; stamens 2, filaments 

 very Abroad. Fruiting spikes 1-1^ in., flexuous. A very distinct-looking species. I 

 do not find the filaments to be margined beneath the anthers as described by Miquel. 

 The forma major of that author, from the Deccan (Mayabam, Sir F. Adam), is a very 

 doubtful plant, in fact indeterminable. 



36. P. trineuron, Miq. in' Hook. Lond. Journ. v. 555 ; quite glabrous, 

 branches slender rigid, leaves thin elliptic-lanceolate subacute .or acumi- 

 nate 3-nerved nearly to the tip, peduncles longer than the petioles, male 

 spikes slender shorter than the leaves, male and female bracts closely adnate 

 to the rachis, stamens 2, frujts distant globose quite smooth. Cas. DC. 

 in Prodr. xvi. 362. P. insulare& ceylanicum, Cas. DC. I. c. 242. Muldera 

 diandra, Thwaites Enum. 428 (omitted in DC. Prodr.). 



CEYLON, in damp forests in the south of "the island, Walker, Thwaites. 



Branches slender, black, nodes much enlarged. Leaves 3-5 by f-l| in., base 

 acute; principal nerves 1-2 pair, slender; petiole \-\ in. Male spikes 2-3 in.; 

 bracts semicircular, rather distant. Fruiting spike rigid ; bracts forming a thick 

 cup ; rachis black, naked between the fruits. This is certainly not a Muldera, 

 though it resembles P. arcuatum, Blume, of Java. 



37. P. leptonema, Hook. f. ; quite glabrous, branches terete firm, 



