228 New or interesting Plants 



Don thus remarks on its duration : — " It is a hardy annual, but, like many 

 other South American plants, if kept in the green-house, it will flourish 

 for several years. In all the really perennial species of this genus, the root 

 is tuberous." 



CL VI. YolygonecB. Coccoloba uvifera, the round-leaved sea-side grape, 

 is figured and described in Bot. Mag. for Feb., t. 3130. The flowers, fruit, 

 and description presented are from the Rev. L. Guilding, at St. Vincent ; 

 for it appears neither to have flowered nor fruited in British stoves, although 

 introduced to them in 1690. The flowers are racemose, small, white tinged 

 green, and fragrant. As the fruit advances to maturity, it becomes enve- 

 loped by the enlarged and fleshy perianth, and thus forms an obovate 

 reddish purple berry, resembling a small pear. In the West Indies and 

 warmer parts of South America, the roots of this tree, which attains a 

 height exceeding 20 ft., penetrate into the sands of the sea-shore, and 

 are washed by the waves : hence, in conjunction with the racemes of 

 pulpy fruits, arises its usual English appellation, " Sea-side grape." These 

 fruits have a sweetish acid, and rather agreeable flavour, but are not much 

 esteemed, though generally sold in the markets. The wood, when boiled 

 in water, gives out a red colour : it is also employed for cabinet work. 



CLXII. Viperdcece. Piper Betle is published in Bot. Mag. for February, 

 t. 3132., from drawings executed in St. Vincent, at which place the plant 

 flourishes as well as in its native country the East Indies, where, and 

 especially in the Malay Islands, the inhabitants have, almost from time 

 immemorial, considered it as a necessary of life : and this not by itself, but 

 with the use of lime and the areca nut, together constituting a masticatory 

 employed by either sex, and at all ages. Raised in India by slips and 

 cuttings, which are carefully planted in a rich moist soil, well enclosed 

 and shaded, so as to be protected, in a great measure, both from sun and 

 rain. 



Piper nigrum, the common or black pepper of the shops, is figured in 

 the Bot. Mag. for March, t. 3139., and from the interesting information 

 there supplied, we have deduced the following abstract : — 



The long slender stems of this shrub have their numerous joints swollen, 

 and from these joints often emit radicles which adhere to bodies like those 

 of ivy, or become roots striking into the ground. 



This very valuable spice is a native of the hotter parts of India, where 

 it is most extensively cultivated, and where it constitutes a highly 

 important article of commerce. Common pepper, the fruit of this plant, 

 is an article in general use throughout every part of the civilised world. 

 Still, it is in Asia, where the stomach is weakened by excessive perspiration, 

 produced by the heat of the climate, by a humid atmosphere, and by a too 

 general addiction to vegetable diet, that it is employed as a powerful 

 stimulant. Thus, in a medical point of view, pepper proves an excellent 

 tonic, calculated to create appetite, and to promote digestion. 



Pepper of the shops is the fruit of this plant; and it is called black 

 pepper while it is, in the state of nature, covered by its external coat. White 

 pepper is merely black pepper deprived of its external coat; which is 

 effected by macerating the fruit or grains in water, until the coat swells 

 and bursts. The fruit is then dried in the sun, and by friction and 

 winnowing cleared of the coat. It is then of a paler colour, and consti- 

 tutes white pepper; but as the husk or bark contains a powerful principle, 

 it is evident that the white pepper loses much of its stimulating property, 

 and is inferior to the black. 



" In the cultivation of the vines of Piper nigrum, the pepper plant, moist 

 situations, along the banks of rivers, are preferred, where pepper plantations, 

 or pepper gardens as they are termed, are formed. The pepper vines are 

 planted 6 ft. asunder every way. After lining out the ground, and marking 

 the intersections by slight stakes, the next business is to plant the trees 



