92 cxxiv. PIPERACE^:. (J. D. Hooker.) 



nodes much enlarged, leaves petioled thinly coriaceous broadly elliptic or 

 rounded abruptly acuminate, 5-nerved from near the rounded rarely sub- 

 cordate base, peduncles slender longer than the petioles, female spikes very 

 slender longer than the leaves, flowers very minute in separate whorls. P. 

 Lonchites, Wall. Cat. 6644 B, the right-hand upper specimen only. 



, Wallich, Maingay. DISTEIB. Java (Zollinger, 3771/8). 

 Apparently shrubby. Leaves very symmetrical for the genus, dull hrovvn when 

 dry, 3-4 by 2-3 in., nerves slender, nervules distinct on both surfaces ; petiole slender, 

 in. Female spikes alone seen; flowers sometimes in a broken spiral, ^but usually 

 in distinct whorls ; bracts cupular, confluent below with the slender quite glabrous 

 radiis. Fruit in. long, ellipsoid, with a very short style when dry. A very distinct 

 species, which Miquel appears to have overlooked in Wallich's Herbarium, where 

 the only specimen is fastened on a sheet with two other species (P. caninum and 

 Lonchites). In the Hookerian Herbarium he has named it " a P. acre, Bl., vix 

 diversum ;" it differs from P. acre totally in the bracts and flowers. 



** Bracts of the female spike adnate to the rachis with decurrent raised 

 more or less membranous margins which are confluent with the bracteoles on 

 either side of the ovary. (The species of this group are involved, and I have 

 failed in the attempt to dissociate Nos. 40 to 43.) 



38. P. rhytidocarpum, Hook. f. ; a stout quite glabrous climber, 

 leaves long-petioled large coriaceous elliptic ovate oblong or orbicular 

 acuminate not glaucous beneath 3-5-nerved above the rounded acute or cor- 

 date base, spikes very long, fruiting females 8-12 in., bracts with slightly 

 raised margins, fruit granulate (when dry). P. aurantiacum, Wall Cat. 

 6658 B. P. nigrum, var. macrostachyum, Cas. DC. in Prodr. xvi. 1. 363. 



ASSAM, SILHET and the KHASIA MTS., ascending to 4000 ft., common, Wallich, 

 Griffith, &c. CHITTAGONG-, J. D. H. $ T. T. 



Habit and foliage of P. nigrum, but distinguished by the long petioles, often 

 2 in. long, larger leaves, attaining 7 in. in breadth, very long spikes, raised margins 

 of the bracts and granulate fruit. Miquel has named a specimen without fruit in 

 Herb. Hook, as P. trioicum? and alludes to it in Syst. Pip. (314, parag. 3). 



39. P. attenuatum, Ham. in Wall. Cat. 6642 B, C, D in part; 

 branches soft compressed angled and grooved when dry, leaves long- 

 petioled membranous orbicular-ovate or cordate abruptly acuminate upper 

 more ovate glabrous or puberulous beneath 7-nerved from near the base, 

 fruiting female spikes very long slender, bracts decurrent with raised mem- 

 branous margins, fruit small globose. Miq. Syst. Pip. 306, III. Pip. 49, 

 t. 49> and in Fl. Ind. Sat. i. 2. 451 ; Cas. DC. in Prodr. xvi. 1. 363 ; Wight 

 Ic. t. 1933. ? P. Sirium, Cas. DC. 1. c. 361. P. Malamiris, Eoxl. Fl. Ind. i. 

 160, and Ed. Carey $ Wall. i. 162. 



EASTERN TKOPICAL HIMALAYA;. Sikkim, J. D. H., &c. ; Bhotan, Griffith. 

 ASSAM, SILHET and the KHASIA MTS., 'Hamilton, &c. NILGHIRI HILLS; on the 

 Eastern slopes, Wight, &c. DISTRIB. ? Penang and. Java. 



Apparently a rambling species, not unlike P. sylvaticum. Branches stout, but 

 evidently soft, flexuous, glabrous. Leaves 2^-6 in., often as broad as long, from finely 

 downy to glabrous beneath ; base usually equal rounded truncate or cordate, of the 

 upper usually acute ; nerves slender; petiole 1-3 in., rarely shorter. Male spikes 

 slender ; bracts adnate, cupular ; bracteoles slender ; stamens 2-4. -Female spikes 

 very slender, lengthening in fruit to 9 in. ; rachis glabrous, except in the ciliate scars 

 left by the fruit ; ovaries ovoid ; stigmas minute. Fruit globose, in. diam. The 

 7 basal nerves seem to distinguish this from the following. Cas. DC. refers the Sirium 

 of Humph (V. 119, t. 2) and Vahl's P. diffusum to it, but the evidence is very slight. 

 According to Miquel, a specimen of Roxburgh's P. Malamiris so named by himself 



