Piper aduncum

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

Overview

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

Thickets, woodland margins ; 0-20 m [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,653 meters (0 to 15,266 feet).[4]

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Partial to Full Shade.

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Artanthe adunca (L.) Miq. • Steffensia Adunca

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

• A contribution to the botany of the Isle of Pines, Cuba, based upon the specimens of plants from that island contained in the herbarium of the Carnegie Museum under date of October, 1916. By O.E. Jennings. n.p., 1917 url p. 107.
• A contribution to the flora of Honduras, by T. G. Yuncker. 17 1938 Chicago, 1938. url p. 347.
• A manual of botany, including the structure, classification, properties, uses, and functions of plants. London, J & A. Churchill, 1887. url p. 679.
• A system of vegetables, according to their classes, orders, genera, species, with their characters and differences. .. Tr. from the 13th ed. (as pub. by Dr. Murray) of the Systema vegetabilium of the late Professor Linneus; and from the Supplementum plantarum of the present Professor Linneus. .. By a botanical society Lichfield, Printed by J. Jackson for Leigh and Sotheby, 1783. url p. 70.
• An annotated catalogue of types of the University of Illinois mycological collections (ILL) / Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1997. url p. 100, p. 101, p. 177, p. 179, p. 57, p. 68.
• An enumeration of the vascular plants known from Surinam: together with their distribution and synonymy / by A. Pulle. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1906. url p. 140, p. 543.
• Annales du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg. Suppl. 3 1910 Leiden [etc.]: E. J. Brill [etc.] url p. 410.
• Annals of the Carnegie Museum. [Pittsburgh]: Published by authority of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institute, 1901- url p. 497.
• Botanical abstracts. Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins Co. url p. 52.
• Breviora. Cambridge, Mass.: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, [1952- url p. 3.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: The Museum, 1951-1992. url p. 119, p. 121, p. 124, p. 157, p. 236.
• Bulletin of the Natural History Museum. London: The Natural History Museum, c1993-2002. url p. 1, p. 19, p. 21, p. 22, p. 46, p. 47, p. 5, p. 6.
• Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden. 8 1912-1914 Lancaster, Pa.: Published for the Garden by the New Era Printing Co., url p. 386.
• Catalogue of the Hanbury Herbarium, in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain / compiled by E.M. Holmes. London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 1892. url p. 98.
• Catalogue of the collections in the museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain compiled by E.M. Holmes. London, The Society, 1878. url p. 109.
• Common trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands / by Elbert L. Little, Jr., and Frank H. Wadsworth. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, 1964. url , p. 50, p. 544.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 40 2000 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 124, p. 143, p. 153, p. 219, p. 234, p. 364, p. 37, p. 57, p. 75, p. 82, p. 91, p. 92, p. 94, p. 97.
• Contributions to the flora of Venezuela / Julian A. Steyermark and collaborators. 28 1957 Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Natural History Museum, 1957. url p. 1214, p. 882.
• 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. 150, p. 95, p. 96.
• Flora Malesiana. general editor, C.G.G.J. van Steenis. Djakarta: Noordhoff-Kolff, 1950- url p. 392.
• Flora Vitiensis nova: a new Flora of Fiji (spermatophytes only) / Albert C. Smith. Lawaii, Hawaii: Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, 1979- url p. 57, p. 58.
• Flora barbadensis: a catalogue of plants, indigenous, naturalized, and cultivated, in Barbados: to which is prefixed, a geological description of the island /by James Dottin Maycock. 1830 London: J. Ridgeway, 1830. url p. 438.
• Flora of Costa Rica. .. by Paul C. Standley. .. 18 1937 Chicago, 1937. url p. 336.
• Flora of Guatemala / Paul C. Standley and Julian A. Steyermark. 24 1952 Chicago: Chicago Natural History Museum, 1952. url p. 283.
• Flora of the Lancetilla Valley, Honduras, by Paul C. Standley. 10 1931 Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, 1931. url p. 160.
• IUCN Directory of Protected Areas in Oceania IUCN url p. 444.
• Illinois biological monographs. Urbana, Univ. of Illinois Press. url p. 69.
• Journal of ethnobiology. 15 1995 Flagstaff, Ariz.: Center for Western Studies, 1981- url p. 264, p. 273, p. 40.
• Journal of the New York Botanical Garden. 12 1911 Lancaster, Pa.: Published for the Garden by the New Era Printing Co., 1900- url p. 227, p. 287.
• Loudon's encyclopaedia of plants; comprising the specific character, description, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous to, cultivated in, or introduced in Edited by Mrs. Loudon, assisted by George Don and David Wooster. London, Longmans, Green, 1866. url p. 1106.
• Mammals of Panama (with thirty-nine plates) by Edward A. Goldman. City of Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1920. url p. 33.
• Memoir of the late William Wright, M. D. with extracts from his correspondence, and a selection of his papers on medical and botanical subjects. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1828. url p. 247.
• Morphological studies of the genus Cercospora, Urbana, Ill., 1930 url p. 69.
• Muhlenbergia. Chico, Calif. [etc] url p. 10, p. 13, p. 16.
• Natural history of the Tres Marias Islands, Mexico. Washington, Govt. Print Off., 1899. url p. 88.
• North American fauna. Washington: Fish and Wildlife Service; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U. S. Govt. Print. Off. url p. 88.
• Pharmacographia: a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury. London: Macmillan, 1879. url p. 591.
• Phytologia memoirs. Plainfield, N.J.: H.N. Moldenke and A.L. Moldenke, 1980- url p. 116.
• Plants of the Bahamas, Jamaica and Grand Cayman, by A.S. Hitchcock. .. Issued March 9, 1893. St. Louis, 1893 url p. 123.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 447.
• Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. Washington, etc.: Entomological Society of Washington url p. 1042.
• Science papers, chiefly pharmacological and botanical. By Daniel Hanbury. .. Ed., with memoir, by Joseph Ince. .. London, Macmillan, 1876. url p. 497.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 69 1921 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 296, p. 33, p. 8.
• The Journal of the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture. San Juan: [Board of Commissioners of Agriculture, 1917]. url p. 141, p. 145, p. 242.
• The forests and flora of British Honduras / by Paul C. Standley and Samuel J. Record; in cooperation with the Conservator of Forests and the Agricultural Officer of the Colony. 12 1936 Chicago: [Field Museum of Natural History], 1936. url p. 103.
• The gardener's magazine and register of rural & domestic improvement. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1826-1844. url .
• The uses of plants: a manual of economic botany with special reference to vegetable products introduced during the last fifty years / by G. S. Boulger. London: Roper & Drowley, 1889. url p. 117, p. 206.
• Torreya. Burlington, Vt., Torrey Botanical Club, 1901-1945. url p. 201, p. 254.
• Trees and shrubs of Mexico / By Paul C. Standley. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1920-1926. url p. 153.
• 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:

• Australian National Herbarium
• , Australian National Herbarium
• Biologiezentrum der Oberoesterreichischen Landesmuseen, Biologiezentrum Linz
• Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program
• Herbarium of the University of Aarhus, The AAU Herbarium Database
• Herbier de la Guyane, Herbier de la Guyane
• Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
• , Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• National Herbarium of New South Wales, Plants of Papua New Guinea
• SysTax, Herbarium Universitat Ulm
• SysTax, SysTax
• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database
• University of Vienna, Institute for Botany - Herbarium WU, Herbarium WU

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2668673
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-504402
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13761234
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:680297-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 316786
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 504402
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 680297-1
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: PIAD
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 56394

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. "Piper aduncum". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
4. Mean = 656.200 meters (2,152.887 feet), Standard Deviation = 890.320 based on 800 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

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