501 
P I P 
wider leaves, brownifh-green, not paler; and upright, not 
hooked, fpikes. Native of Jamaica, in the mountains of 
the more temperate part. 
Miller has thirteen fpecies, all American, except P. 
firiboa, which is a native of the Eaft Indies. His fpecies 
are chiefly the Saururi of Plumier, with three found by 
Houftoun. He has not mentioned the common Eaft- 
Indian peppers, having probably never cultivated them. 
He has the following fpecies not mentioned above. 
61. Piper humile: leaves lanceolate, nerved, rigid, 
feffile. Stalks (lender, frequently trailing, and putting 
out roots from the joints. Leaves five inches long, and 
two broad in the middle, drawing to a point at each end ; 
they have one ftrong midrib, with feveral veins on the 
under furface, running from the midrib to the fides. 
Spike very (lender, five inches long. Native of Ja¬ 
maica. 
62. Piper laurifolium: leaves lanceolate-ovate, nerved; 
fpikes fhort. Stalks fhrubby, jointed, nine or ten feet 
high, dividing into fmaller branches. Leaves feven inches 
long and three broad, ending in acute points; they 
are veined and rough, of the fame confidence with laurel- 
leaves. Spikes from the fides of the branches at the 
joints, oppofite to the leaves, not more than an inch and 
a half long, the thicknefs of a fmall quill, clofely fet with 
flowers. Native of Vera Cruz in America. 
63. Piper tomentofum: leaves ovate-lanceolate, tomen- 
tofe; Item arborefcent. This has hollow pithy (talks, 
twelve or fourteen feet high, dividing into many crooked 
branches, having fwelling joints. Leaves five inches long 
and three broad, covered with a woolly down. Difco- 
vered by Dr. Houftoun at Vera Cruz. 
64.. Piper decumanum: leaves cordate-ovate, nerved, 
acuminate ; fpikes reflex. This rifes with feveral fhrubby 
ftalks fifteen feet high, dividing into many (lender 
branches, with protuberant joints. Leaves five inches 
long and three broad, fmooth, but the two outer join the 
borders of the leaves foon; the other three run to the 
top, the middle one in a right line; the two fide ones 
diverge, and join at the top: dark green on the upper 
fide, but pale on the under. Sent from Carthagena by 
Dr. William Houftoun. 
65. Piper glabrum : leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 
fmooth, three-nerved. This has many fhrubby ftalks ten 
feet high, dividing into crooked branches towards the 
top. Leaves near four inches long, and two and a half 
broad, lucid green, with three large veins or nerves. 
Sent from Campeachy by Dr. Houftoun.. 
66. Piper racemofum; leaves lanceolate-ovate, wrinkled ; 
nerves alternate. Stalk fhrubby, ten or twelve feet high, 
dividing towards the top into a great number of fmall 
branches, which are hollow, and having protuberant 
joints. Leaves five inches long, two and a half broad, 
fome having long, others very fhort, footftalks ; they are 
of a deep green on their upper fide, but pale underneath, 
ending in acute points. Spikes from the fide of the 
• ftalks oppofite to the leaves, long and (lender, clofely fet 
with very fmall flowers. Native of Campeachy. 
Species from the Linn. Tranf. 
Mr. John Vaughan Thompfon, in a paper read before 
the Linnasan Society on the ad of June, 1807, Introduces 
his newly-difcovered fpecies with the following obferva- 
tions, “ Of this extenfive and highly-natural genus a 
lefs intimate knowledge is in general poffeffed by the Eu¬ 
ropean botanift than of mod others in which fo many 
plants of intereft occur. This circumftance is to be 
attributed not only to the plants of this genus being 
all natives of tropical climates, but alfo to -the very 
ftrong refemblance of moft of the fhrubby fpecies to 
each other, and the impoflibility of preferving, by 
the ufual methods, fuch as are herbaceous and fuccu- 
lenf. Throughout this family the inflorefcence is dif- 
pofed in a fcaly fpike, or, more properly, a catkin; in 
Vol. XX. No. 1386. 7 
E R. 
moft of the fpecies clofe and imbricated, but in others, 
particularly the herbaceous fpecies, more open and lax. 
The flowers, feparately examined, confift of an inferior 
fcale, a roundifh germen, and two ftamina, without the 
leaft veftige of a calyx or corolla. There is no ftyle, but 
three minute ftigmata not eafily diftinguifhable by the 
naked eye, and the antherse are for the moft part feffile; 
but I cannot be led to think that the filament is entirely 
wanting in any of the fpecies. Notwithftanding the ob¬ 
vious fimplicity of this ftrufture, an attempt has been 
made, in the Flora Peruviana, (amongft a variety of 
others,) to form the herbaceous fpecies into a new genus, 
under the name of Peperomia.” Vahl re-unites them ; 
and Mr. Thompfon fuggefts, that the whole might be 
conveniently divided into two fedftions 5 “ the firll con¬ 
taining the fhrubby fpecies, the other the herbaceous; 
each of which may be further fubdivided into, ift, fuch 
as are ereft; and, adiy, fuch as creep or climb; in the 
following manner: 
a. Shrubby: 1. ere£t; 2. climbing. 
b. Herbaceous: 1. ere< 5 l ; z. creeping. 
It may be worthy of remark, that the individuals of 
the firft fedtion are common to both continents, thofe of 
the fecond are confined exclufively to the old, and thofe 
of the two laft principally to the new. The fpecies here¬ 
with prefented belong to the laft fedlion, and are all fo 
very ftrongly and diftindtly marked, that they cannot fail 
to be at all times eafily difcriminated.” 
67. Piper quadrangulare, or quadrangular-ftalked pep¬ 
per : -herbaceous; Item four-fided, radicate, (proceeding 
direftly from the root;) leaves oppofite, rhombic ; pedun¬ 
cles axillary, folitary ; lpikes binate. Difcovered by Mr. 
Thompfon on the trunk of an old tree, on the road be¬ 
tween St. Jofeph’s and the Caroni-river, in the ifland of 
Trinidad. It is reprefented on the annexed Plate, at 
fig. x. 
68 . Piper brafteatum, or St. Vincent’s pepper ^herba¬ 
ceous; Item filiform, radicant; leaves cordate-orbiculate, 
acuminate; peduncles axillary, folitary, bradteated; fpikes 
fhort. Found in fome abundance on the rocks and trees 
on the eaftern fide of Morne Suffrier, in the ifland of St. 
Vincent, about two thoufand feet above the level of the 
fea. It approaches moft near to the P. fcandens of Vahl, 
but is fufficienily diftindh See the Plate, fig. 2. 
69. Piper hernandi-folium, or jack-in-a-box-leaved pep¬ 
per : herbaceous; ftem radicate; leaves ovate-acuminate 
peltate; peduncles oppofite the leaves, folitary, articulated. 
Inhabits the Caribbee I (lands : firft noticed on the moun¬ 
tainous woods of St. Vincent’s, and fubfequently in the 
woods of Trinidad and Granada. 
Propagation and Culture. All thefe plants require a 
warm ftove to preferve them in England. They may be 
propagated by feeds, if they can be procured frefh from 
the countries where the plants grow naturally; thefe 
fhould be (own upon a good hot-bed in the fpring, and, 
when the plants come up and are fit to tranfplant, they 
fhould be each put into a feparate fmall pot filled with 
light frefh earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanner’s 
bark, (hading them every day from the fun till they have 
taken frefh root; then they mull be treated in the fame 
way as other tender exotic plants, admitting frefh air to 
them daily in proportion to the warmth of the feafon, to 
prevent their drawing up w'eak 5 and, when the nights 
are cold, the glades of the hot-bed fhould be covered 
with mats to keep them warm. As the ftalks of moft of 
thefe plants are tender when young, they fhould not have 
much wet, which would rot them; and, when water is 
given to them, it mud be with caution, not to beat down 
the plants; for, when that is done, they feldom rife again. 
In autumn the plants mull be plunged into the tan-bed 
of the bark-ftove, and during the winter they mull be 
fparsngly watered ; they require the fame warmth as the 
coffee-tree. In the fummer they require a large (hare of 
frefh air in hot weather, but they mull be conftantly kept 
6 M in 
