21 
PEPEROMIA BLANDA. 
Villous Peperomia. 
DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA Nat. Ord. PIPERACEjE, Humb. et Kunth.^ 
PIPIRETEES, De Canrf— URTICIS AFFINIS, Juss. 
Gen. Char. — Spadix cylindraceus, floribus undique tectus. Stamina duo. 
Stigma indivisum. Bacca monosperma. Caulis herbaceus, — Humb. et 
Kunth. 
Peperomia blanda; pubescens, caule erecto simplici terete, foliis ternis 
oblongis trinervis carnosis, superioribus utrinque attenuatis, spadici- 
bus terminalibus axillaribusque solitariis, 
Peperomia blanda, Humb. et Kunth, Nov. Gen, v. i. p, 67. 
Piper blandum, Jacq. Coll. v. iii. p. 210 — Ic. Var. v. ii. p. 218. — Willd. Sp. 
PI. V. i. p. 164. — Haworth, Syn. PI. Succ. p. 7- — Roem. et Schultz, 
Syst. Veg. V. i. p. 329. 
Root creeping and fibrous. Stem about 1 foot in height, erect, simple, cy- 
lindrical, jointed, pubescent, and red to the very extremity. Leaves 
distantly placed upon short, semicylindrical footstalks, recurved, oblongo- 
ovate, thick and fleshy, pubescent, three-nerved, green above, yellowish, 
with red margins, nerves and dots beneath, the lowermost ones obtuse, 
the superior ones more or less attenuated at the base and at the extre- 
mity. 
The spadix is solitary at the base of each of the leaves which are nearest to 
the extremity ; the terminal ones are often 4 or 5 together, green, 2-4 
inches long, slender, pedunculated, peduncles shortish, red. Floivers ra- 
ther distantly placed. Scales rotundo-quadrate, pellucid, reticulated, pel- 
tate. Germen broadly ovate, sessile. Stigma sessile, oblique, somewhat 
fringed. Anthers 2, one on each side of the germen, borne upon fila- 
ments, which are so short that they are scarcely protruded beyond the 
scale, of one cell. 
The genus Peperomia was long ago divided from Fipei^ 
by Ruiz and Pa von ; but by most subsequent botanists it has 
again been united to it, under the idea that such a separation 
was not founded in nature. To me, however, it appears well 
distinguished, as being constant, so far as an examination of 
the individuals cultivated in our stoves enables me to speak, to 
the characters above given, and agreeing also in the peculiar 
habit of the species. The individuals belonging to the genus 
Piper, according to. the information of M. Humboldt, have a 
shrubby stem, sometiines attaining to 15 and 25 feet in length, 
and dull green leaves; the Peperomm, on the other hand, 
possess somewhat herbaceous, fleshy stems, and have leaves of 
a bright green colour. The latter, though endowed with a 
very fleshy or succulent parenchyme, are more patient of cold 
than the former, and grow in several instances at an elevation 
VOL. I. 
