PIPERACEAE 



183 



PIPER RETROFR ACTUM Vahl Enum. 1 (1804) 314. 

 Piper chaba Hunter in As. Res. 9 (1809) 391. 

 Chavica officinarum Miq. Syst. Pip. (1844) 256. 

 Piper officinarum C. DC. Prodr. 16 1 (1869) 356. 

 Piper longum Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 333, t. 116, f. 1. 

 Piper longum e Philippinis Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 334. 

 Pharmacum magnum vulgare Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 42, t. 26, f. 2? 



Piper retrofractum Vahl is not represented in our Amboina 

 collections. The figure of Piper longum Rumph., however, 

 seems to represent Vahl's species, this reduction being in agree- 

 ment with Miquel and with C. de Candolle. The form from the 

 Philippines I have determined largely from the native name 

 cited by Rumphius, sabia being the universal name, at least 

 about Manila, for Piper retrofractum Vahl. I follow Miquel 

 also in reducing here Pharmacum magnum vulgare Rumph., 

 who considered that it represented a form near Chavica officina- 

 rum Miq. Linnaeus reduced Piper longum Rumph. to Piper 

 amalago Linn*, in Stickman Herb. Amb. (1754) 22, Amoen. 

 Acad. 4 (1759) 131, Syst. ed. 10 (1759) 856, Sp. PL ed. 2 (1762) 

 41, which was an entirely erroneous disposition of it, as Piper 

 amalago Linn, is an American species. Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 

 (1790) 32, erroneously reduced it to Piper longum Linn. 

 Roxburgh, Fl. Ind. 1 (1820) 158, placed it under Piper chaba 

 Hunter, which is a synonym of P. retrofractum Vahl. Poiret, in 

 Lamarck Encycl. 5 (1804) 460, erroneously placed it under Piper 

 plantagineum Lam., and it has been cited under Chavica 

 officinarum Miq. and Piper officinarum C. DC, both synonyms of 

 Piper retrofractum Vahl. 



PIPER CADUCI BRACTEU M C. DC. sp. nov. 



Sirium silvestre Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 342, t. 118, f. 1, 2. 

 Amboina, Halong and Koeda mati, Robinson PL Rumph. Amb. 59 (type!), 

 August and September, 1913, climbing on trees at low altitudes, locally 

 known as siri seytan; Teysmann in Herb. Bogor. 



Ramulis glabris ; f oliis breviter petiolatis glabris, limbo ovato- 

 elliptico basi leviter inaequilatera' utrinque acuto apice acute 

 acuminato, in mare 5-plinervio, in femine 9-ninervio nervo cen- 

 trali nervos adscendentes 2 mittente quorum supremus 2 in 

 mare et 3 in femina a basi solutis quorum externi aliis multo 

 breviores et tenuiores, petiolo basi ima vaginante; pedunculo 

 glabro petiolum aequante vel paulo superante, stirpis masc. 

 spica quam limbus pluries breviore, rhachi hirsuta, bracteae 

 pelta rotunda glabra centro-pedicellata pedicello hirsuto, stami- 

 nibus 2 antheris minutis rotundatis 4-valvatis filamenta fere 

 aequantibus; stirpis fern, spica quam limbus pluries breviore, 



