.] cxxiv. PIPERACE.E. (J. D. Hooker.) 97 



or whorled, quite entire, pellucid-punctate, exstipulate. Spikes terminal or 

 leaf-opposed, solitary or fascicled, rarely axillary. Flowers 2-sexual, minute, 

 sessile or sunk in the rachis, often whorled, erect, bracteate. Perianth 0. 

 Stamens 2, v.eiy short ; anther-cells confluent. Ovary obtuse acute or beaked, 

 1 -celled; stigma lateral or terminal, usually penicillate ; ovule 1, erect. 

 Fruit minute, indehiscent. Seed with a membranous testa. Species 3-400, 

 chiefly tropical and American. 



* Eeaves alternate. (See also P. TPightiana.) 



1. P. exig-ua, Miq. Syst. Pip. 77, and Ft. Ind. Sat. i. 2. 432 ; quite 

 glabrous, stem very slender decumbent, leaves alternate petioled rounded- 

 ovate-cordate or subdeltoid 5-7-nerved, tip rounded, spikes solitary axillary 

 and terminal, fruit sessile, stigma terminal. Cas. DC. in Prodr. xvi. 1. 

 403. Micropiper exiguum, Miquel Comm. Pliyt. 56, t. 9 D. Piper exiguum, 

 Blume in Verh. Sat. Genoots. xi. 232. P. hyalinum, Wall. Cat. 6662. 



BTTBMA; hills opposite Prome, Wallich. DISTBJB. Java, Philippines, ? West 

 Africa. 



Stems 3-6 in., sparingly branched. Leaves hyaline when dry, J-l in. diara., 

 base sometimes truncate ; petiole -1 in. Spikes | in., filiform. Fruit ovoid, 

 beaked. 



2. P. moulmeiniana, Cas. DC. in Seem. Juurn. Sot. 1866, 140, and 

 in DC. Prodr. xvi. 1. 415 ; quite glabrous, stem succulent straggling, leaves 

 alternate shortly petioled elliptic-lanceolate obtuse 5-nerved from the base, 

 spikes slender panicled, fruit globose, stigma minute. 



TENASSEEIM; at Moulmein, Parish. 



Stems tufted, 6-8 in. high, sparingly branched; branches divaricate. Leaves 

 2-2| in. long, succulent, nerves faint ; petiole 53- in. Spikes 1-1^ in. Fruit not 

 so broad as the rachis. 



3. P. pseudo-rhombea, Cas. DC. in Prodr. xvi. 1. 440; quite gla- 

 brous, stem stout erect succulent, leaves alternate petioled fleshy ^elliptic- 

 lanceolate acute 3-nerved, spikes solitary axillary and terminal shorter than 

 the leaves. P. courtallensis, var. /3., Thwaites JEnum. 292. 



CEYLON; Central Province, alt. 3-5000 ft., Thwaites. 



Stem simple, 1 foot high, as thick as a goose-quill. Leaves 2 in., narrowed into 

 the short petiole, nerves obscure. I have seen but one specimen, and in young 

 flower only. 



4. P. Thomson!, Hook. f. ; quite glabrous, erect, branched, leaves 

 alternate petioled elliptic-ovate subacute 5-nerved, spikes slender axillary 

 and terminal. Peperomia No. 9, Herb. Ind. Or. H. f. Sf T. Piper ovali- 

 folium, Wall. Cat. 6663 By the lower specimen. . 



DECCAN PENINSULA; Nilghiri or Kurg Mts., G. Thomson; Courtallarn, Wight-, 

 Dindigul, alt. 2500 ft., Wight in Herb. Wall. ? CEYLON, Thwaites. . 



Stem very stout, erect or ascending at the base, naked below, as thick as a swan's 

 quill; branches all reaching about the same height, leafy. Leaves all alternate, 

 2-3 in. long, succulent, 3 principal nerves broad; petiole |- in. Spikes when 

 flowering as long as the leaves, much longer in fruit. A specimen of this in Herb. 

 Arnott is mentioned by Miquel (in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. v. 549) as a glabrous, 

 luxuriant, alternate-leaved var. of P. dindigulensis, from which it appears to me to 

 be widely different, and to be very near pseudo -rhombea of Ceylon. 



** Leaves mostly opposite or whorled. 

 VOL. v. H 



