564 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Group XXXVII.— Fiperales. 



Order 91.— PIPER KC^M.— Richard. 



Flowers mostly sessile, sometimes pedicellate, in terminal or axillary spikes or oppo. 

 site the leaves, naked, with a bract outside. Stamens 2 or more, on one side of, or around 

 the ovary. Anthers 1 — 2-celled. Pollen roundish, smooth. Ovary free, simple, 1-celled, 

 with a solitary, erect, orthotropal ovule. Stigma sessile, simple, rather oblique. Fruit 

 free, somewhat fleshy, indehiscent, 1-celled, 1-seeded. Seed erect, with the embryo in a 

 fleshy sac at the apex, on the outside of the albumen. 



An order peculiar to the hot regions of the world, consisting of trees and 

 shrubs, with articulated stems; opposite, verticillate, or, by abortion, alternate 

 leaves ; stipules none, or in pairs, or single and opposite the leaf. Some 

 difference of opinion exists as to their station ; Richard, Blume, and others con- 

 sider them as monocotyledonous ; but they have the medulla rays of the exo- 

 gens. This, and the reticulation of their leaves, &c, has led most botanists 

 to include them among the dicotyledonous plants. 



Their general character is an aromatic pungency, with, in some cases, 

 astringent and somewhat narcotic properties. The species are very nume- 

 rous, but were all arranged in one genus, that of Piper, by Linnaeus; and 

 few changes were made until the examination of the subject by Miquel. In 

 his " Systema Piperacearum," he proposes to divide the order into two tribes. 

 The first, of Piperomidce, includes the herbaceous species with axillary cat- 

 kins, androgynous flowers, and anthers one-celled in dehiscence ; none of 

 these are employed medicinally, and but few are made use of in any way. 

 The second tribe, Piperidce, contains the shrubby and arborescent species, 

 having catkins opposite to the leaves, flowers usually dioecious ; the fertile 

 ones with several distinct stigmas, the sterile with two-celled anthers. Each 

 of these tribes contains numerous genera, which appear to be instituted on 

 sound differential characters. 



Piper. — Linn. 



Spike wholly covered with flowers. Flowers perfect, rarely dioecious, each supported 

 by a bracteole. Stamens 2 or more. Ovary with a single, erect ovule. Stigma puncti- 

 form, obtuse or cleft. Berry 1-seeded. Embryo inverted. 



This genus is exclusively East Indian, but some of the species are exten- 

 sively cultivated in the West Indies. It is now very much restricted, by {he 

 removal of many of the plants, formerly included in it, to other genera. 



P. nigrum, Linn. — Stem trailing or climbing, shrubby, dichotomously branched, with 

 tumid joints, often throwing out cauline radicles. Leaves alternate, distichous, broad- 

 ovate, acuminate, of a dark-green colour, and shining above, paler beneath, 5 — 7-nerved, 

 reticulated. Petioles rounded. Spikes opposite the leaves, mostly towards the extremi- 

 ties of the branches, pedunculate, long, slender, drooping. Fruit ripening irregularly 

 throughout the year, round, sessile, at first green, then red, and finally black. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 40 ; Bot. Mag. 3139 ; Blume, Enum. PL Jav. 64 ; Lind- 

 ley, FL Med. 310; P. aromaticum, Poiret, Ency. Meth. Suppl. v. 458; 

 Fee, (Jours, ii. 618. 



Common Names. — Pepper ; Black Pepper. 



Foreign Names. — Poivre, Poivre noir, Fr. ; Pepe nero, It. ; Schwarzer 

 Pfeffer, Ger. 



