474 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Peperomia blanda. 



Fig. 514. 

 Flower (f). 



ture; 1 the former has hermaphrodite flowers, and anthers of 

 Chavica ; the latter, 3 anthers of Piper. In both the floral bract is 



free. All these genera 

 inhabit the hottest coun- 

 tries of the globe. Ver- 

 huellia comprises three or 

 four species, all American, 

 except one from the banks 

 of the Nile. Peperomia is 

 a very large genus ; up- 

 wards of four hundred 

 species have been de- 

 scribed. In some there is 

 a distinct style, in others 

 the stigmatic papillae are 

 merely on top of the 

 ovary ; in some the flower 

 and fruit are stipitate, in 

 others sessile. Further di- 

 visions have been founded 

 on the form of the stig- 

 matiferous surface, which 

 may be entire and disc- 

 oidal, scutellate, conical, 

 or elongated, or bilobate ; 

 on the insertion of the 

 floral bract, which may 

 be like a little leaf and attached by its base to the rachis, or 

 dilated above and more or less peltate ; on the arrangement of 

 the leaves, alternate or verticillate ; on their nervation, penniveined, 

 multiplicostate, or pluricostate at the base. 



Fig. 513. 

 Habit. 



Fig. 515. 

 Long, sect of flower. 



1 These peculiarities will be treated below, 

 with respect to the organization of the stems. 



2 Low herbs, American and African (4 sp. : 

 W., Spec, i. 165 (Pipe?-).— Spbeug., Syst., i. 



117 (Piper).— Sw., Fl. Ind. Occ, i. 69 (Piper).— 

 Dietr., Sp., i. 162 (Peperomia). 



3 Herbs or shrubs from all hot countries (389 

 sp., C. DC, Prodr., 393-471). 



