144 Hill \ — A Revision of the Geophilous Species of Peperomia. 
The Inflorescence 1 . 
The inflorescences of these small plants are usually numerous ; they 
develop from the stem-apex and are surrounded by the leaf rosette. 
They consist of a peduncle bearing the flowers in a spike on its upper part, 
and may often attain to a considerable length. The lower or barren 
portion of the peduncle is in most cases about equal in length to the 
petioles, whilst a great deal of difference is shown in the character of the 
actual spikes in the different species. They may be short and crowded 
with flowers — some 5 mm. long in the parvifolia section — or, more 
commonly, they are long and lax flowered ; usually simple, they are 
frequently branched in P. ovato-peltata and the allied species P, claytonioides y 
P. pinulana . The flower is like that found otherwise in the genus, and 
consists of two stamens and an ovary in the axil of a bract. The bract 
is peltate, and as a rule appears to be green, though in P. ovato-peltata it is 
white, and may be made use of as a specific character. In shape it is 
commonly ovate-acute or acuminate, and shows the same texture as the 
leaves, but in P. bracteata it is a fairly large and conspicuous orbicular 
structure which tends to fold round the spike. The anthers are either 
almost sessile, or are borne on short filaments *4 --5 mm. in length. The 
fruits are often strikingly different in the different species, and afford the 
most certain characters for their determination. In most cases they 
are sessile or subsessile, but in the Central American species P. pedi - 
cellata , the stalk of the fruit is equal in length to the fruit itself. In shape 
the fruits are commonly globose or ovoid, and are often very small ; they 
terminate either in a small dome-like style, bearing the stigma at its apex, 
or the style may be prolonged as in P . peruviana , P. mexicana , P . macran - 
dra , &c., to form a conical or cylindrical beak, which in the case of 
P. macrandra is equal in length to the berry proper, and bears the stig- 
matic surface at its apex. 
In the case of P. rupiceda , this stylar portion has extended backwards 
over the fruit to form a cap, covering the upper half of the globose fruit, 
and is quite unlike the style of any other geophilous species. The fruit- 
wall also is of a peculiar character, but since no seedlings have been 
found, it is at present uncertain whether this species really belongs to that 
subsection of the genus. The fruit-wall throughout the subsection affords 
some well-marked characters, which are of great value in the determina- 
tion of the species ; they may be arranged in two groups. In the one, the 
fruit-wall, as seen in surface view, is more or less smooth or slightly reticu- 
lated, and appears to be a somewhat delicate structure 2 , whilst in the other, 
the wall is stouter and more resistant, being more or less deeply pitted, 
which gives the fruit a verrucose or verruculose appearance. 3 
1 Hill in Ann. Bot. xx, PI. XXIX, Figs. 1, 2, 27 ; Pi. XXX, Figs. 32, 42. 
2 Cf. Hill, 1. c., PI. XXIX, Fig. 3. 3 Ibid. 1. c., PI. XXIX, Figs. 18, 29. 
