248 SPICES 



CHAP. 



the spikes. The spikes are small, 1 to 2 in. long, and 

 densely crowded with fruit. The flowers are less than 

 their diameter apart. The stamens are abundant, and the 

 plant is very fruitful and flushes early. Intermediate 

 forms between this and the other two forms occur. 



Mr. C. P. Kaunan Nair (in Tropical Agriculturist, 

 June 1906, p. 562) describes four varieties cultivated in 

 Malabar. Sadharana valli, a common form and a 

 good cropper. 



Kallivalli already described, the best kind. Utkaram 

 valli, easier to propagate than either of the preceding. 

 It has thicker shoots, and broader leaves. The pepper- 

 corns larger and lighter, and the yield small. 



Koltavalli, so called because the stems interlace 

 like a basket. It grows easily without care, but the 

 yield is poor. 



Short -leaved pepper has light -coloured, uniform, 

 short, broad, flat, oval leaves, 4 in. long, 2^ in. wide, 

 with indistinct veins, the vines tending to high growth 

 with a very large number of small spikes, all exactly 

 of the same stage of maturity. The branches stick 

 out and branch dichotomously. The whole vine has a 

 thinly-clad appearance. The spikes are 2 to 3 in. long, 

 very numerous, apparently without stamens. 



The plant cultivated in the Malay Peninsula and 

 Borneo resembles the short -leaved pepper, as far as 

 description goes, in many respects. It is not a tall 

 pepper, and is only cultivated up to about 12 ft. height. 

 The leaves are oval, or lanceolate, dark green with 

 prominent nerves ; the spikes numerous and short, not 

 branched ; the flowers about twice their length apart, 

 fully hermaphrodite ; the stamens in pairs or solitary 

 on each side of the pistil ; the fruit spikes full, the 

 peppercorns not large. 



Some other forms are mentioned by Barber as occur- 

 ring on the Madras estates, and two jungle peppers have 

 found their way into the cultivated area. The bigberry, 

 unisexual vines, as in most wild forms ; the females with 

 small, dark green, flat, narrow, hard leaves, and hairy 



