PIPEEAOE^ — SALIOACE^. 591 



are 21 known genera and upwards of 600 species. Examples — 

 Piper, Artanthe, Peperomia. 



The plants of the order have pungent, acrid, and aromatic proper- 

 ties. Most of them contain an acrid resin, and a crystalline principle 

 called Piperin, in which their active qualities reside. Some are nar- 

 cotic and astringent. The dried fruiting spikes of Piper (Chavica) 

 officinarum, an Indian creeper, constitute Long-pepper ; Chavica Box- 

 Iwghii, a plant of Malabar, Ceylon, Eastern Bengal, and the Philip- 

 pines, also supplies Long-pepper. The dried unripe fruit (drupes) of 

 Piper nigrum constitute Black-pepper, a climbing plant common in 

 the East Indies. The ripe fruit, when deprived of its outer fleshy 

 covering by washing, forms the White-pepper of the shops. These 

 peppers are hot aromatic condiments, and they are used medicinally 

 as tonic, stimulant, febrifuge, and stomachic. The fruit of Piper 

 Cubeba {Cubeba officinalis), a climbing plant of Java and other Indian 

 islands, is the medicinal Oubeb-pepper, which is used extensively in 

 arresting discharges from mucous membranes. It contains a resin, a 

 volatUe oil which is very active, and a peculiar principle called Cube- 

 bin. African Cubebs, or West African Black-pepper, is the fruit of 

 Pi^er (Ghavica) Ohisii. The substance called Matico or Matica con- 

 'sists of the leaves and unripe fruit of Piper angustifolium (Artanthe 

 elongata), a shrub which grows in the moist woods of Bolivia, Peru, 

 Brazil, New Grenada, and Venezuela. It possesses aromatic, fragrant, 

 and astringent qualities. It has been particularly recommended for 

 checking hemorrhage, a property which seems, in part, to be a me- 

 chanical one, depending on the structure of the leaf, which abounds 

 in tannin. Piper [Artanthe) lancecefoUiim also yields Matico. The root 

 of Macropiper methysticum is the Kava of the South Sea Islanders, 

 which is used by them for preparing a stimulating beverage. The 

 leaf of Betel-pepper {Ghavica Betle) is chewed with the Areca nut in 

 the East, as a means of intoxication. One of the forms of the aroma- 

 tic drug called Jaborandi is referred to the genus Piper, while others 

 are said to belong to the genus Pilocarpus, one of the Rutacese. The 

 leaves have sudorific and sialogogue properties, and they appear to be 

 a very active medicine. 



Order 176. — SALiCACE.ai, the Willow Family. {Apet. Diclin.) 

 Flowers dioecious, in catkins, each with a membranous bract. Male 

 flowers, with a glandular disk ; stamens 2 or many ; anthers innate 

 (basifixed), with longitudinal dehiscence ; ovary 1-ceUed ; placentas 

 2, parietal ; ovules many, erect, anatropal. Fruit a capsule, 1-celled, 

 2-valved. Seeds comose ; embryo erect, exalbumirious ; radicle infe- 

 rior. — Found in woods in temperate and cold regions. Willows grow 

 in damp places throughout the northern hemisphere, and also in the 

 temperate parts of South America and South Africa. None are 

 found in Australia or the Pacific islands. Poplars grow in Europe 



