P1PERACEM. 47 



thinly coriaceous, 3-7 in. long, elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, obtusely 

 caudate-acuminate, base acute ; nerves prominent beneath ; petioles 

 slender, \~\ ia. ; leaves of the climbing stems much smaller, orbicular, 

 pointed. MALE spikes 2-3 in. long, slender, drooping ; bracts minute, 

 peltate. Stamens 2, anthers reniform ; cells confluent, dehiscing 

 across the tip. I EM. spikes very shortly peduncled -| in. diam., 

 globose or shortly oblong in fruit. Berries -^ in. in diam. ; stigmas 

 3, very minute. 



Dehra Dun on the banks of the Re nadi (Kanjilal), Sub-Himalayan 

 tracts of N. Oudh in damp places (Duthie). DISTRIB. : Sub-tropical 

 Himalaya from Simla to Bhutan, up to 5,000 ft. ; also on the 

 Khasia and Nilgiri Hills. 



PIPER BETLE, Linn.; Roxl. FL 2nd. i, 158 ; F-B.I., v, 85 ; Duthie Field 

 and Gard. Crops N. W. Prov. md Ovdh Hi, 51, it. 91 and 91A ; Watt 

 E. D.; Comm. Prod. 2nd. 891 ; Gamble Man, 554 ; Brandis Ind. 

 Trees 523 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 528. Vern. Pan, tambuli, etc. (Betel 

 pepper). A perennial dioecious creeper extensively cultivated in the 

 hotter and damper parts of India and in Ceylon extending to the Malay 

 Islands. It is believed to have come originally from Java. The leaves 

 mixed with portions of areca-nut, lime and catechu, are universally 

 chewed by the natives of India, to which are added by well-to-do 

 classes other ingredients such as cardamoms, nutmeg and camphor. 

 For further particulars as to cultivation, etc., see Watt's Comm. Prod, 

 of India 891. 



P. NIGRUM, L. Vern. Gul-mirch, kala-mirch. (Black pepper). This 

 furnishes the ordinary pepper of commerce, black and white, the 

 latter resulting in the grinding of the fruit after the removal of the 

 outer skin. The plant is wild in Travancore and Malabar, and is 

 cultivated in the hotter parts of India and in Ceylon and in the tropics 

 generally. 



PEPEEOMIA PELLUCIDA, H. B. & K. ; Prain Beng. PL 894 ; Cooke FL 

 Bomb, ii, 629. A slender much-branched glabrous and succulent 

 annual. Has been introduced comparatively recently from S. 

 America, and is becoming naturalized in various parts of India, and 

 as a weed in the gardens of N. India. 



XCV.-LAURAOEJE. 



Aromatic trees or shrubs, very rarely (Gassy tha) leafless para- 

 sites. Leaves usually alternate, gland-dotted, exstipulate. Flowers 



