170 A FLORA OP MANILA 



1. P. PELLUCIDA HBK. 



An annual, very succulent, erect, branched herb, 5 to 40 fcm high, the 

 stems round, often 5 mm thick, pale-green. Leaves ovate, acute or obtuse, 

 base broad, cordate, pale-green, pellucid, shining, 1 to 3 cm long. Spikes 

 green, erect, slender, 1 to 6 cm long, the fruits globose, brownish, less than 

 1 mm thick. 



Very common in damp shaded places, on damp walls etc., fl. all the year. 

 A native of tropical America, now widely distributed in most tropical 

 countries. 



*2. P. AECYREiA Morren. 



A glabrous plant with large peltate leaves longitudinally striped or 

 blotched with gray between the nerves, the stems and petioles purplish. 

 Petioles up to 15 cm long. Leaves broadly ovate, 8 to 16 cm long, apex 

 shortly and broadly acuminate, base rounded, the nerves 8 to 10, the 

 flowering stalk sometimes bearing much smaller reduced leaves which are 

 often not peltate. Spikes very slender, up to 10 cm in length. 



Cultivated, Singalon, fl. at intervals all the year. Of recent introduction 

 here, a native of tropical America. 



2. PIPER Linnaeus 



More or less climbing shrubs with sw«llen nodes, aromatic when crushed. 

 Leaves entire, usually unequally sided, pointed, usually longitudinally 

 nerved. Flowers small, dioecious, rarely perfect, in short or elongated 

 spikes, each flower subtended by a small bract, frequently also with lateral 

 bracteoles, the former peltate or cupular and adnate to the rachis. 

 Perianth none. Stamens 1 to 4;, filaments short; anthers 2-celIed. Ovary 

 1-celled, 1-ovuled; stigmas 2 to 5. Fruit ovoid or globose, usually yellow 

 or redi (The ancient Latin name.) 



Species about 650, in all tropical countries, over 100 in the Philippines. 



1. Fruit imbedded in the pulp of the mature spike. 

 2. Leaf multiplinerved, that is some of the nerves basal, others leaving 



the midrib above the base 1. P. betle 



2. Leaf penninerved, all the nerves leaving the midrib, none basal. 



2. P. retrofractum 

 1. Fruit free, not imbedded in pulp; leaves 7-nerved from the base. 



3. P. loheri 



1. P. BETLE L. Icmo (Tag.) ; Betel Pepper. 



A glabrous climbing vine reaching a height of 2 to 4 m. Upper leaves 

 ovate, 10 to 13 cm long, mostly 7-nerved from near the base, the outer 

 pair of nerves free to the base, apex acuminate, base somewhat inequi- 

 laterally rounded or cordate, the petioles 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, sheathing. 

 Male spikes about as long as the leaves, about 2 mm in diameter, the 

 rachis hirsute. Female spikes, when mature, red, fleshy, 2 to 4 cm long, 

 0.5 to 1 cm thick. (Fl. Filip. pi. 12.) 



Cultivated extensively in Pasay, fl. occasionally; throughout the Philip- 

 pines, wild and cultivated, probably introduced. Cultivated in all ttftpical 

 countries. 



2. P. retrofractum Vahl. Sabia (Tag.). 



Climbing, reaching a height of 2 to 4 m, glabrous. Leaves short-petioled, 

 pale when dry, oblong- to ovate-elliptic, 8.5 to 16 cm long, base acute. 



