622 



BOTANY 



PART II 



FIG. 619. Piper nigrum. (? nat. size.) OFFICIAL. 



unisexual and without perianth, as- 

 sociated in spikes ; typically trimerous 

 but usually reduced. Ovary unilocular, 

 ovule solitary, basal and atropous. 

 Fruit drupe-like. The embryo is em- 

 bedded in a small endosperm sur- 

 rounded by a well -developed peri- 

 sperm. The vascular bundles are 

 scattered in the cross-section of the 

 stem resembling the arrangement in 

 Monocotyledons, but with secondary 

 thickening. 



Piper nigrum, from which the 

 Peppers are derived, is the most 

 important representative. This is a 



620 -Piper cMa. a Ir b a root . climb natiye to the Malayan 



male flower ; c, a female flower in longitudinal J 



section ; d, fruit in longitudinal section. OFFI- re g lon > but now cultivated through- 

 CIAL. (After BERG and SCHMIDT.) 



out the tropics (Fig. 619). The unripe 



