1284 
CVII. PIPERACEiE. 
[Piper. 
usually articulate at the nodes. Leaves alternate. Spikes usually leaf-opposed 
and solitary, rarely clustered or solitary on short axillary peduncles or branches. 
The genus ranges over all tropical lands, slightly extending to the southward in Australasia 
and S. America. Of the six Queensland species one has the wide range of the genus; the others 
are endemic. 
Spikes solitary or 2 or more together on axillary peduncles or short 
branches. Bushy erect shrubs or tall herbs. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Leaves 6 to 12in. broad 1 . P. subpeltatum. 
Spikes all solitary and leaf-opposed. Stems climbing. Spikes unisexual. 
Spikes all dense, £ to lin. long. Bracts peltate. Anthers exserted. 
Berries stipitate. Leaves membranous, glabrous 2. P. Xovae-Hollandia. 
Male spikes unknown. Females 1 to 3in. long. Berries stipitate. 
Leaves pubescent underneath 3. P. Banksii. 
Male spikes slender, 3 to 5in. long, the coils of flowers separated by 
the adnate bracts. Anthers exserted. Females unknown ... 4. P. triandrum. 
Spikes (female) about 2in. long, 5 lines in diameter. Peduncles 
about 9 lines long 5. P. Mestoni. 
Spikes (female) 3 to 4in. long, not stout. Peduncles about ltin.long 6. P. Rothiana. 
1. P. subpeltatum (somewhat peltate), Willd.; Gas. PC. Prod. xvi. i. 
883 ; Benth. FI. Austr. vi. 204. A large herb, or shrub of 3 to 5ft., 
glabrous or with a minute pubescence on the petioles and nerves of 
the leaves and on the inflorescence. Leaves on long petioles, orbicular- 
cordate or almost reniform, shortly and acutely acuminate, membranous, 
prominently many-nerved at the base, with 1 or 2 primary veins on each 
side of the midrib higher up, 6 to 12in. broad, the petiole shortly sheathing 
at the base. Spikes usually 2, sometimes 3 to 7 together, shortly pedicel- 
late on a common axillary peduncle of J to lin., and often 2 common 
peduncles in the same axil, the spikes very dense, 1 to 3in. long. Bracts 
peltate, the terminal laminae triangular or semilunar, hirsute at the margin. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Berries obovate- 3-gonous, glandular-pubescent. — 
Potomorphe subpeitata, Miq., Wight Ic. t. 1925. 
Hab.: Inmost of the tropical scrubs. Widely spread over the tropical regions of both the 
New and the Old W 3 * * * 7 orld. 
2. P. Wovae-Hollandiae (of New Holland — Australia), Miq. Pip. Nor 
Holl. (from Med del. K. Akad. Vetensk. Amsterd. ser. 2, ii.) ; Benth. FI. Austr • 
vi. 204. A tall dichotomous plant climbing up trees in dense scrubs. 
Leaves on the barren branches usually broadly ovate, equally cordate, acuminate, 
7-nerved, 3 to 4in. long; on flowering branches not so broad, unequal at the 
base, scarcely cordate, and quintupli- or septupli-nerved. Spikes unisexual, 
leaf-opposed, the males 4- to nearly lin. long, on slender peduncles rather shorter 
than the spike, very dense, 1 to 14 line diameter. Bracts orbicular-peltate, the 
lamina much undulate when the flowers are fully out. Stamens 2 or 3, shortly 
exserted. Fruiting spike not longer than the males. Berries ovoid, red, 2 to 8 
lines long, on stipules at least twice that length when full-grown. — Cas. DC. 
Prod. xvi. i. 343. 
Hab.: Brisbane River and Moreton Bay, TV. Hill; Rockhampton, Thozct ; Rockingham Bay, 
Dallacliy. 
The ethereal spirituous extract of the wood yields crystals, the nature of which has not been 
ascertained. — Dr. Joseph Bancroft. 
Wood coarse-grained and pungently scented when newly cut. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods, 
Ho. 305. 
3. P. Banksii (after Sir Joseph Banks). Miq. Pip. Xor. Holl. 9 ; Benth. 
FI. Austr. vi. 205. A tall woody climber, the branches and upper surface 
of the leaves glabrous or nearly so. Leaves ovate, acuminate, oblique and 
often slightly cordate at the base, membranous, septuplinerved, 3 to Gin. long, 
more or less sprinkled or villous underneath with scattered hairs. Spikes 
