360 Piperaceae; Chloranthaceae 



1. PEPEROMIA Ruiz & Pav. Sada-s6 Zoku 



Annuals or perennials; stipules absent; leaves alternate, opposite, or verticillate, entire, usually fleshy, commonly with pellucid 

 dots; spikes densely or loosely flowered; flowers minute, bracteate, sometimes sunken in the axis, bisexual, sessile, the perianth 

 absent; stamens 2, the filaments usually short, the anthers globose or depressed-globose, 2-locular and often confluent; stigma 

 often penicillate; berry small, scarcely fleshy, the seeds similar to the fruit in shape. About 400 species, pantropic. 



1. Peperomia japonica Makino. Sada-so. Fleshy, wide, entire, rounded to broadly obtuse, the petioles 3-8 mm. 

 densely soft-puberulent, green perennial herb; stems 10-30 cm. long; spike erect, short-pedunculate, 2-4 cm. long, rather 

 long, erect, terete, from ascending base, sparsely branched; densely many-flowered, glabrous except the peduncle; flowers 

 leaves spreading, verticillate in 3's to 5's, slightly fleshy, minute, sessile; fruit globose, about 0.4 mm. long. Shi- 

 elliptic, obovate or broadly elliptic, 1-2.5 cm. long, 7-15 mm. koku, Kyushu (s. distr., Yakushima and Tanegashima) . 



2. PIPER L. KosHo Zoku 



Scandent, woody or rarely herbaceous plants or sometimes small trees, with jointed branches; leaves alternate, entire or 

 rarely 3-lobed, 3- to many-nerved, the stipules rarely absent; spikes terminal; flowers bisexual or unisexual, usually sessile, some- 

 times sunken in the axis, adnate to a peltate bract; perianth absent; stamens 2-4, rarely to 8, the anthers ovoid or globose, some- 

 times oblong; stigmas 2-5; berry small, globose or ovoid; seeds globose. More than 700 species, pantropic. 



1. Piper kadzura (Choisy) Ohwi. Ipomoea \adsuru hairy, 5-nerved or nearly so; spikes 3-8 cm. long, pedunculate, 



Choisy; P. juto\adsura Sieb. Futo-kazura. Scandent nodding to pendulous; flowers unisexual (plants dioecious), 



over trees and rocks, often radicant; leaves ovate (sometimes the bracts peltate; fruit globose, red, 3-4 mm. in diameter. 



rounded-cordate in young specimens), 5-8 cm. long, usually May-June. Woods near seashores; Honshu (Kanto Distr. and 



3-4 cm. wide, long-acuminate, rounded at base, entire, rather westw.), Shikoku, Kyushu. s. Korea and Ryukyus. 



thick, dark green, paler beneath and often scattered soft 



Fam. 61. CHLORANTHACEAE Senryo Ka Chloranthus Family 



Herbs or shrubs, sometimes aromatic; leaves opposite, usually serrate, pinnately veined, the petioles joined by a horizontal 

 ridge on stem or by a short sheath, the stipules small, linear, subtending the petiole or inserted on the margin of the sheath; 

 inflorescence a simple or branched spike (rarely capitate), essentially terminal; flowers unisexual or bisexual, the perianth 

 absent in the bisexual ones; stamens 1 or 3, sometimes 2, connate below, sometimes adnate to the ovary; ovary 1, 1-locular; stigma 

 sessile or rarely with a short stalk, truncate or short-linear, undivided; ovules solitary, orthotropous; fruit a drupe, ovoid or 



globose, the exocarp fleshy or juicy, the endocarp hard; seeds with copious endosperm, the embryo small. Four genera, 



with about 40 species, chiefly in the Tropics and warmer temperate regions. 



1 A. Stamen 1 ; evergreen shrubs 1 . Sarcandra 



IB. Stamens 3, connate below; perennial herbs or shrubs 2. Chloranthus 



1. SARCANDRA Gardn. Senryo Zoku 



Shrubs with jointed nodes; leaves evergreen, opposite or verticillate in 3's or 4's, petiolate, serrate, pinnately nerved, the 

 stipules short, with 2 marginal projections, green; spikes terminal, sometimes branched; flowers small, naked, sessile; stamen 1, 

 adnate on the back of ovary and jointed at base with it, the anther 2-locular, introrse; stigma sessile, truncate; ovules pendulous, 

 ventral. One species. 



1. Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai. Bladhia glabra 15-30 mm. long, erect; flowers small, white; stamen 1, the 



Thunb.; Chloranthus glaber (Thunb.) Makino; Chloranthus anther 2-locular, introrse; fruit fleshy, globose, orange-scarlet, 



brachystachyus BL; Ascaria serrata Bl. Senryo. Gla- 5-7 mm. in diameter. Woods; Honshu (Tokaido and 



brous evergreen shrub 30-80 cm. high; stems terete, green, Kinki Distr.), Shikoku, Kyushu; rather common. s. Korea, 



spreading, the nodes slightly swollen; leaves oblong or ovate- Ryukyus, Formosa, China, India, and Malaysia. 



oblong, 10-15 cm. long, 4-6 cm. wide, deep green, lustrous, Cv. Flava. S. glabra forma fava (Makino) Ohwi; 



sharply serrate, acuminate, the petioles 5-15 mm. long; spikes Chloranthus glaber var. ^avus Makino Kimino-senryo. 



terminal, short-pedunculate, simple to few-branched below. Fruit yellow. Cultivated. 



2. CHLORANTHUS Sw. Cha-ran Zoku 



Herbs or shrubs with swollen, jointed nodes; leaves simple, petiolate, serrate, the petioles connected by a transverse ridge on 

 stem; inflorescence a terminal spike, simple or branched; flowers bisexual, the perianth absent; stamens 3, sometimes partly re- 

 duced and sterile, the anthers 1- or 2-locular, introrse or extrorse, the filaments connate, forming a dilated, 3-lobed body, often 

 attached on one side of the ovary; stigma sessile, truncate. ^More than 10 species, in s. and e. Asia. 



