Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/637

Peperomia.] mersed 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.





Shrubs or trees, rarely herbs, generally aromatic. Leaves opposite, usually toothed, petioles often connate at the base; stipules small, subulate. Flowers small, unisexual, in terminal or axillary spikes or panicles. Perianth wanting (rarely present in the female flowers). Stamens either 1 or 3 connate; filaments shore and thick; anthers 2-celled, or when there are 3 the lateral 1-celled. Ovary 1-celled; stigma either sessile or style very short; ovule solitary, orthotropous, pendulous from the top of the cell. Fruit a small globose or ovoid drupe. Seed pendulous; testa membranous; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo minute, remote from the hilum, radicle inferior.

Aromatic shrubs or small trees; branchlets jointed at the nodes. Leaves opposite, serrate, penniveined; petioles connate at the base into a short sheath; stipules small, subulate. Flowers minute, diœcious, arranged in simple or branched spikes. Perianth wanting in both sexes. Male flowers: Stamen solitary; anther sessile, linear-oblong, cylindric, 2-celled; cells parallel, dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers: Ovary naked, ovoid or subglobose; stigma sessile, truncate. Drupe small, putamen fragile.

1. A. lanceolata, ''Hook. f. in Journ. Linn. Soc.'' (1856) 127.—A perfectly glabrous bushy shrub or small tree 6–15 ft. high, rarely more; branches dark purplish-red, striate when dry. Leaves 2–4 in. long including the petiole, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceo-