Piper amalago

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Piperaceae

Herbs, shrubs , or climbers , rarely trees , usually aromatic . Vascular bundles ± scattered in transverse section in a monocotyledonlike manner. Tip of stem sometimes enclosed within a stipulelike sheath , the prophyll, sometimes adnate to petiole , absent in Peperomia. Leaves alternate, often opposite or whorled in Peperomia, simple , base often asymmetric , palmately or pinnately veined. Inflorescence a pedunculate spike, rarely grouped into an umbel, rarely a raceme (in Zippelia), leaf-opposed or axillary , rarely terminal . Flowers small, bisexual , hermaphroditic , polygamous or dioecious, nearly always sessile; bracts small, usually peltate or cupular, usually without perianth. Stamens 1-10; filaments usually free ; anthers 2-locular, distinct or connate , longitudinally dehiscent . Gynoecium 2-5-carpellate, connate; ovary superior, 1-locular, ovule 1, orthotropous ; stigmas 1-5, sessile or with very short styles. Fruit a small drupe or nutlet ; pericarp fleshy , thin or dry, sometimes with sticky papillae (in Peperomia) or glochidiate spines (in Zippelia) . Seeds with copious starchy perisperm and a minute embryo embedded in small endosperm.

About eight or nine genera and 2000-3000 species: tropical and subtropical regions, mostly in North and South America, rather fewer in Asia, a few in Africa; three genera and 68 species (36 endemic, four introduced ) in China.[1]

Genus Piper

Small trees , shrubs , subshrubs , or rarely herbs, erect or reclining , glabrous or pubescent . Leaves alternate, pubescent. Leaf blade conspicuously pinnately veined, lateral veins ascending-arching, connected by fainter, ladderlike, tertiary veins. Spikes opposite leaves, ascending-arching, densely flowered, distally drooping . Flowers sessile, borne on surface of rachis; floral bracts fringed with whitish hairs ; stamens 2[-6]; stigmas [2-]3[-4]. Fruits sessile, oblong (inversely pyramidal-3-angled in P. auritum ) ; beak minute.

Species 1000: primarily tropics and subtropics.

This genus includes Piper nigrum Linnaeus, the source of black pepper and white pepper.[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,077 meters (0 to 10,095 feet).[3]

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

Members of the genus Piper

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 44 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

P. aduncum (Higuillo De Hoja Menuda) · P. aduncum var. exotum (Spiked Pepper) · P. amalago (Higuillo De Limon) · P. amalago var. amalago (Spanish-Elder) · P. amalago var. ceanothifolium (Spanish-Elder) · P. amalago var. medium (Spanish-Elder) · P. angustifolium (Pepper) · P. arborescens (Lanyu Pepper) · P. attenuatum (Oval-Leaved Pepper Plant) · P. aurantiacum (Orange Pepper Tree) · P. auritum (False Kava-Kava) · P. auritum 'Hoja Santa' (Hoja Santa Pepper) · P. austrosinense (South China Pepper) · P. bambusifolium (Bamboo-Leaved Pepper Plant) · P. betel (Betel Pepper) · P. betle (Betel Leaf) · P. blattarum (Moth Pepper) · P. boehmeriifolium (False Nettle-Leaved Pepper Plant) · P. cubeba (Cubeb) · P. dilatatum (Higuillo) · P. distachyon (Montane Peperomia) · P. glabrescens (Guyanese Pepper) · P. guineense (Pepper) · P. hainanense (Hainan Pepper) · P. hispidum (Jamaican Pepper) · P. jacquemontianum (Caracas Pepper) · P. kadsura (Kadzura Pepper) · P. kadzura (Japanese Pepper) · P. longifolium (Pepper) · P. longum (Indian Long Pepper) · P. magnificum (Lacquered Pepper) · P. magnoliifolium (Spoonleaf Peperomia) · P. marginatum (Marigold Pepper) · P. methysticum (Kava) · P. nigrum (Black Pepper) · P. ornatum (Celebes Pepper) · P. pereskiifolium (Spotted Trunkfish) · P. ponapense (Pepper) · P. puberulum (Downy Pepper) · P. retrofractum (Balinese Pepper) · P. sarmentosum (Chaa-Plu) · P. seychellarum (Seychelles Pepper) · P. swartzianum (Spanish Elder) · P. wichmannii (False Kava (Vanuatu))

More Info

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Further Reading

• 1997 IUCN red list of threatened plants Cambridge: IUCN, World Conservation Union, 1998 url p. 449.
• A review of the references to the Hortus malabaricus of Henry Van Rheede Van Draakenstein [sic] Swansea: Printed at the Cambrian-Office, by Murray and Rees, 1839. url p. 32.
• A supplement to the Pharmacopia, and treatise on pharmacology in general: including not only the drugs and preparations used by practitioners of medicine, but also most of those employed in the chemical arts: together with a collection of the most useful medical formulæ. . by Samuel Frederic Gray. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, 1836. url p. 32.
• An annotated catalogue of types of the University of Illinois mycological collections (ILL) / Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1997. url p. 320, p. 97.
• Avian seed dispersal of neotropical gap-dependent plants / by Kelvin Gregory Murray. 1986. url p. 111.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: The Museum, 1951-1992. url p. 118, p. 119, p. 121, p. 122, p. 123, p. 124, p. 125, p. 157.
• Check-list of the species of fishes known from the Philippine Archipelago, Manila, Bureau of printing, 1910. url p. 183.
• Flora Costaricensis. William Burger, editor. Family #40, Casuarinaceae, Family #41, PIperaceae [by] William Burger. 35 1971 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1971. url p. 99.
• Journal of ethnobiology. 14 1994 Flagstaff, Ariz.: Center for Western Studies, 1981- url p. 38, p. 73.
• Novon a journal of botanical nomenclature from the Missouri Botanical Garden. 17 2007 St. Louis, MO: Missouri Botanical Garden, url p. 13.
• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 172, p. 4.
• Seventy-five years of mammalogy, 1919-1994 / edited by Elmer C. Birney, Jerry R. Choate. [Provo, Utah]: American Society of Mammalogists, c1994. url p. 369.
• Sturtevant's notes on edible plants / Edited by U.P. Hedrick. Albany: J.B. Lyon, 1919. url p. 439.
• The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: the Americas IUCN url p. 161.
• The World List of Threatened Trees WCMC, IUCN url p. 427.
• Tseng Yung-chien, Chen Pei-shan & Zhu Pei-zhi. 1982. Piperaceae. In: Tseng Yung-chien, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 20(1): 11-78.
• Tseng Yung-chien, Chen Pei-shan & Zhu Pei-zhi. 1982. Piperaceae. In: Tseng Yung-chien, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 20(1): 11-78.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 15, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 27, 2007:

• Herbier de la Guyane, Herbier de la Guyane
• Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
• , Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• SysTax, Herbarium Universitat Ulm
• SysTax, SysTax

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3873618
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-18314
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13729481
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:680359-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 450003
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 18314
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 680359-1
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: PIAM2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 56395

Footnotes

1. Yung-chien Tseng, Nianhe Xia & Michael G. Gilbert "Piperaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 110. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Piper". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
3. Mean = 341.580 meters (1,120.669 feet), Standard Deviation = 571.160 based on 595 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.