Piper."] cxxiv. PIPERACE^;. (J. D. Hooker.) 93 



in Delessert's Herbarium is this ; unfortunately Roxburgh's names of Polygonums and 

 Peppers are often at issue both with his descriptions, and these again with his Icones ; 

 he quotes Linnaeus for his Malamiris, but Linnaeus includes plants of both the old and 

 new worlds under Malamiris. Eheede's figure of Linnaeus' plant of that name, 

 Amalago (vii. t. 16), cited by Roxburgh, cannot well be P. aftenuatum. 



40. P. sylvestre, Lamk. 111. 79 ? ; quite glabrous, branches subterete, 

 leaves petioled hardly coriaceous elliptic or ovate acuminate base acute 

 rounded or subcordate 5-nerved from near the base, spikes long very 

 slender, bracts of male cupular adnate to the rachis, of the female with 

 raised margins glabrous within, rachis glabrous, fruit globose. Miq. Syst. 

 Pip. 314, and in Hook. Lond. Journ. Sot. iv. 438, and v. 552 ; Thwaites 

 Enum. 293 (0. P. 3688) ; Gas. DC. in Prodr. xvi. 1. 361 ; Wight Ic. t. 1937. 



ASSAM and SILHET, Wallich, Griffith. DECCAN PENINSULA, at Courtallarn, 

 Wight. CEYLON, Walker : south end of the island, Thwaites. 



A branching climbing shrub, with apparently soft branches, much compressed and 

 furrowed when dry in the Ceylon specimens. Leaves 4-5 by 2-3 in., more coriaceous 

 than in P. attenuatum, with much shorter petioles, and never rounded-ovate as in 

 that plant, base acute or rounded rarely cordate, nerves not so basal ; petiole j-| in. 

 Hale spikes 5-6 in., flowers rather distant ; stamens 2-4 ; female lengthening much 

 in fruit, rachis slender, glabrous. Fruit % to nearly ^ in. I accept this as Lamarck's 

 P. sylvestre with great doubt, and I find it difficult to define it by description from 

 narrow-leaved forms of P. attenuatum, and from some states of P. argyrophyllum, 

 but feel sure it is quite distinct from the former. A specimen in Wight's Herbarium 

 is marked P. trioicum, as is another from Roxburgh's Herbarium, but the fruit seems 

 too small for that form of nigrum, the rachis too is slender, and leaves too membra- 

 nous. I refrain from citing any of the extra-Indian descriptions or habitats for 

 sylvestre, but there is in Herb. Hook, a plant said to be from Mauritius which tallies 

 with this, and is marked P. sylvestre by Miquel ; it is probably a garden specimen, 

 and is in male fl. only. 



41. P. Hymenophyllum, Miq. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Sot. v. 554 ; pe- 

 tioles and leaves beneath pubescent with crisped hairs, branches terete, leaves 

 shortly petioled very membranous ovate elliptic-ovate or -oblong or ovate- 

 cordate acuminate base acute or rounded 2-3-nerved towards the base, 

 nerves slender alternate, spikes very long and slender, fruiting rachis very 

 slender glabrous or pubescent in the scars, bracts confluent with the rachis. 

 Gas. DC. in Prodr. xvi. 1. 364 ; Wight Ic. 1. 1942. P. Malamiris, Wall. Cat. 

 6642 G, H. P. nilghirianum, Cas. DC. I. c. P. lanatum, 'Wight mss.; 

 Miq. I. c. 553 (not of Roxl.}. P. "Wightii, Miq. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. 

 v. 552 for the most part. 



DECCAN PENINSULA ; on the Nilghiri, Shevagherry and Travancore Mountains, 

 Wight, &c. 



A slender climber, with branches that do not appear to shrink in drying. Leaves 

 3-5 in., very variable in breadth, always thinly membranous, base usually equal ; , 

 petiole |- in. Male spike very slender ; bracts with free rounded tips, peduncle 

 longer or shorter than the petiole. Fruiting spikes 3-6 in., rachis very variable ; . 

 bracts usually inconspicuous being entirely confluent with the rachis, but sometimes 

 they have more or less conspicuously raised margins and are ciliated within. Fruit 

 oblong when unripe, with often a distinct style, globose and \-\ in. diam. when ripe. 

 Wight, not having seen male plants, is disposed to regard this as the female of P. 

 argyrophyllum, and though males are now known, they do not help to distinguish 

 them. The pubescence, which is the best character for this, is far from constant in 

 amount, and is sometimes almost evanescent. So too the development of the bracts 

 in the fruiting rachis is very various. A Javan plant of Zollinger's (II. No. 301) 

 closely resembles this. 



42. P. argryrophyllum, Miq. Syst. Pip. 330, III. Pip. 55, t. 56, and 



