Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Piperaceæ
Order LXVI. PIPERACEÆ.
Herbs or shrubs, often aromatic and stimulating. Leaves alternate or opposite or whorled, simple, entire; stipules wanting, or 2 connate, or adnate to the petiole. Flowers minute, hermaphrodite or unisexual, crowded on axillary or terminal catkin-like spikes, each subtended by a sessile or stipitate bract. Perianth wanting. Stamens 2 or more, hypogynous; filaments very short; anthers often jointed on the filaments, cells 2 or confluent. Ovary (except in the tribe Saurureæ, which does not occur in New Zealand) 1-celled, with a single orthotropous ovule; style wanting or very short; stigmas 1–6, various in shape. Fruit a small indehiscent berry. Seed solitary, globose or ovoid or oblong; albumen copious, farinaceous; embryo very minute, enclosed in a sac at the apex of the seed.
A large order, with some trifling exceptions confined to tropical and subtropical regions, and far more abundant in tropical America than anywhere else. Genera 8; species given at 1000, but probably overestimated. Aromatic and stimulating properties prevail through the greater part of the order. The common pepper has been used as a spice since the times of Alexander, and other species of Piper can be similarly employed. The use of the betel (Piper betel) as a masticatory is well known, also that of the kava (Piper methysticum) to prepare an intoxicating drink. The two New Zealand genera are the largest in the order, and have the widest range.
| Usually shrubby. Anther-cells 2, distinct. Stigmas 2–4 | 1. Piper. |
| Small fleshy herbs. Anther-cells confluent. Stigmas usually penicillate. Fruit very small | 2. Peperomia. |
1. PIPER, Linn.
Shrubs or rarely small trees or tall herbs; branches often jointed and swollen at the nodes. Leaves alternate, entire, equal or unequal at the base; stipules often adnate to the petiole. Spikes slender, solitary and leaf-opposed, or solitary or 2–3 together in the axils, sometimes umbelled on a common peduncle. Flowers diœcious or hermaphrodite, minute, closely packed, each one situated in the axil of a peltate or cupular or adnate bract, with or without lateral bracteoles. Perianth wanting. Stamens 1–4; filaments short; anthers 2-celled, the cells often placed back to back, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary sessile, 1-celled; stigmas 2–5, distinct; ovule solitary, erect. Berry small, ovoid or globose. Seed with a membranous testa; albumen hard.
One of the largest genera of the vegetable kingdom, containing more than 500 described species; found in all tropical countries, and specially plentiful in tropical South America.
1. P. excelsum, Forst. Prodr. n. 20.—An aromatic perfectly glabrous densely branched shrub or small tree 8–20 ft. high; branches smooth, flexuose, jointed and swollen at the nodes. Leaves petiolate, 2–5 in. long including the petiole, orbicular-cordate or broadly ovate, shortly acuminate, cordate at the base or sometimes truncate or rounded, 7-nerved from the base, smooth and glabrous on both surfaces, yellowish-green; petioles ½–1½ in. long, lower portion broadly winged on each side by the adnate stipules. Spikes unisexual, solitary or binate, terminating short peduncles or branchlets springing from the axils of the leaves, slender, strict, erect, 1–3 in. long. Flowers minute, very densely packed, the bract orbicular-peltate, sessile. Stamens 2 or rarely 3. Stigmas 3 or rarely 4. Berries densely compacted, small, yellow, broadly obovoid, angled, succulent.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 356; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 323; Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 228; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 254; Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 204. Macropiper excelsum, Miq. Syst. Pip. 221; F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is. 48.
Var. major.'—Leaves larger, 4–8 in. long, usually 9-nerved. Spikes longer, sometimes 6 in. Approaches P. latifolium, Forst.
Kermadec Islands: Var. major abundant, McGilllvray, T.F.C. North Island: Var. major plentiful on the Three Kings Islands, the ordinary form common from thence southwards. South Island: In lowland districts from Nelson and Marlborough to Banks Peninsula and Okarito, usually near the coast. Chatham Islands: Not uncommon, Travers! Cox! Kawakawa. Flowers most of the year.
Plentiful in Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island, also recorded from Tahiti and others of the Pacific islands. The fruit and leaves are aromatic and stimulating, and a decoction of the latter has been used for toothache.
Annual or perennial herbs, usually succulent. Leaves alternate or opposite or whorled, fleshy or more rarely membranous, often pellucid-dotted; stipules wanting. Spikes slender, terminal or axillary or leaf-opposed, solitary or fascicled. Flowers hermaphrodite, minute, sessile or sunk in the rhachis of the spike, bracteate; the bract frequently peltate. Perianth wanting. Stamens 2; filaments very short; anther-cells confluent. Ovary sessile, obtuse or acute, 1-celled; stigma usually penicillate; ovule solitary, erect. Fruit minute, indehiscent; seed with a membranous testa.
A large genus of about 400 species, widely spread in almost all tropical regions, but most plentiful in South America.
| Leaves in whorls of 4, coriaceous when dry. Spikes terminal | 1. P. reflexa. |
| Leaves alternate, thin and membranous when dry. Spikes terminal and axillary | 2. P. Endlicheri. |
1. P. reflexa, A. Dietr. Sp. Plant. i. 180.—Small, succulent, erect or spreading, much branched from the base, 4–9 in. high; branches deeply grooved when dry, pubescent at the nodes. Leaves in whorls of 3 or 4, rarely opposite, shortly petiolate or almost sessile, ¼–½ in. long, elliptic-rhomboidal or almost orbicular, obtuse, fleshy when fresh, coriaceous when dry, dark-green above, paler beneath, minutely punctate, young leaves beneath and petioles finely pubescent, veins obscure. Spikes slender, terminal, pedunculate, ¾–1½ in. long, dense-flowered; peduncle and rhachis pubescent. Bract orbicular-peltate, almost sessile. Ovary partly immersed in the rhachis, ovate, acute; stigma capitellate. Berry exserted, ovoid, reddish, 120 in. long.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 206. P. novæ-zealandiæ, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 394. Piper æmulum, Endl. Prodr. Fl. Norfl. 36.
North Island: Woods near the East Cape, H. Hill!
I have only seen indifferent specimens of this, but there can be no doubt of its identity with P. reflexa, a plant found in most tropical countries, and which is common in some parts of Australia, also in Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
2. P. Endlicheri, Miq. Syst. Pip. 102.—A small glabrous succulent herb 6–12 in. high; stems sparingly branched, prostrate and rooting at the base, ascending or erect above. Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, ½–1¼ in. long, broadly obovate or elliptic-oblong, sometimes almost orbicular, rounded at the tip or rarely subacute, 3-nerved at the base, glabrous, very thick and fleshy when fresh, thin and often almost pellucid when dry. Spikes terminal and axillary, solitary, peduncled, 1–2 in. long. Bract orbicular-peltate. Ovary partly immersed; stigma discoid. Berry exserted or immersed at the base.—P. Urvilleana, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 356; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 324; Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 228; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 254. Piper simplex, Endl. Prodr. Fl. Norfl. 37.
Kermadec Islands, North Island: On rocks and trees in damp shady places as far south as Taranaki and the northern portion of the Wellington Province. Flowers most of the year.
Also found in Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. I suspect that Colenso's P. muricatulata (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 393) is a large-leaved state, but there are no specimens in his herbarium, and it is impossible to be sure from the description alone.