94 BOTANY. 
leaves, and spiked or racemose flowers. Natives of the hottest quarters of the 
globe. Common in South America and India. The wood is often arranged in 
wedges, with medullary rays, but without concentric zones. There are twenty- 
one known genera, and upwards of six hundred species. Examples: Piper, 
Artanthe, Peperomia. 
The plants of this order have pungent, acrid, and aromatic properties. 
Most of them contain an acrid resin, and a peculiar principle called piperine. 
Black pepper is the dried unripe fruit of Piper nigrum, and white pepper 
the ripe fruit deprived of its outer covering. Cubeba officinalis, a Javan 
plant, furnishes Cubeb pepper. ‘The Kava of the South Sea Islands is the 
root of Piper methysticum, and is employed in preparing an intoxicating 
beverage. The Betel leaf from Piper betle, is chewed in the East with the. 
Areca nut. “ | 
Piper nigrum, Black pepper (East Indies) (pl. 72, fig. 6); a, a branch with 
flowers and fruit; 6, portion of a catkin magnified; ¢, portion of the same 
dried and magnified; d, berry; e-f. section of the fruit; g, embryo; A, 
anther; /, unripe berry dried and constituting black pepper; &, white 
pepper. 
OrperR 46. Saururace#, the Lizard’s-tail Family. Flowers bisexual. 
Perianth 0, a scale or bract supporting the flowers. Stamens three to six, 
clavate, hypogynous, persistent ; filaments slender; anthers two-celled, continu- 
ous with the filament, with a thick connective separating the lobes, dehiscence — 
longitudinal. Ovaries three to four, distinct, with one ascending orthotropal 
ovule, and a sessile recurved stigma, or united so as to form a three- to 
four-celled pistil, with several ovules and three to four stigmas. Fruit 
either consisting of four fleshy indehiscent nuts, or a one-, three-, or four- 
celled capsule, dehisang at the apex, and containing a few ascending 
seeds. Seeds with a membranous spermoderm; embryo minute, lying in a 
fleshy vitellus, outside of hard mealy albumen, at the apex of the seed. 
Herbs growing in marshy places, with alternate stipulate leaves, and spiked 
flowers. Natives of North America, India, and China. Their properties 
are said to be acrid. There are four known genera, according to Lindley, 
and seven species. Examples: Saururus, Houttuynia. The species 
Saururus cernuus or Lizard’s-tail, represents the family in the United 
States. | 
- Orper 47. CoLoranTHace4s, the Chloranthus Family. Flowers bisexual 
or unisexual, with a supporting scale. Perianth 0, stamens definite, lateral, 
and if more than one, connate; anthers monothecal, with longitudinal dehis- 
cence, each adnate to a fleshy connective. Ovary unilocular; ovule solitary, 
pendulous, orthotropal; stigma sessile, simple. Fruit drupaceous, indehiscent. 
Seed pendulous; embryo minute, at the apex of fleshy albumen; cotyledons 
divaricate; radicle inferior, remote from the hilum. Herbs or undershrubs, 
with jointed stems, opposite, simple, stipulate leaves, sheathing petioles, and 
spiked flowers. Natives of the warm regions of India and America. Some 
of them, as Chloranthus officinalis, are aromatic and fragrant, and have 
been used as stimulants and tonics. Examples: Hedyosmium, Ascarina, 
Chloranthus. 
94 
