ORDER PIPERALES
[FAMILY 46.] PIPERACEAE
Flowers in spikes. Perianth none. Stamens 2-6. Ovary 1-celled. Ovule 1, basal, straight. Fruit a berry. Seed with a copious albumen and a small embryo.—Genera 3, species 80. Tropical and South Africa. (Plate 27.)
1. Stigma 1, sometimes penicillate. Flowers hermaphrodite. Leaves exstipulate.
Herbs.—Species 65. Tropical and South Africa. Some yield vegetables or condiments or are used in medicine. Peperomia Ruiz & Pav.
Stigmas 2-5. Leaves stipulate or sheathing at the base. Usually shrubs. 2
2. Flowers hermaphrodite. Spikes axillary, arranged in an umbel. Stipules united into a sheath. Shrubs.—Species 1. Tropics. Yields edible fruits containing an aromatic oil and is also used in medicine. (Under
Piper L.) Heckeria Kunth
Flowers unisexual or polygamous. Spikes leaf-opposed.—Species 17, two of them only in cultivation. Tropical and South Africa. Some species yield spices (pepper) or are used in medicine. (Including Coccobryon
Klotzsch and Cubeba Miq.) (Plate 27.) Piper L.
ORDER SALICALES
[FAMILY 47.] SALICACEAE
Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire toothed or lobed, stipulate. Flowers in spikes or catkins, dioecious, without a perianth. Disc cup-shaped or reduced to scales. Stamens 2 or more. Anthers opening by two longitudinal slits. Ovary 1-celled, with two or more parietal placentas. Ovules inverted. Stigmas 2-4, sessile or nearly so. Fruit capsular. Seeds with a basal tuft of hairs, without albumen; embryo straight.—Genera 2, species 20. (Plate 28.)
Disc cup- or urn-shaped. Stamens 4-30. Bracts jagged. Leaves, at least those of the uppermost branches, broad (ovate or broader).
Buds terminal and lateral, covered by several scales.—Species 6. North and East Africa. They yield timber, dyes, and medicaments. “Poplar.” Populus L.
Disc reduced to one or several scales or teeth sometimes cohering at the base. Bracts entire. Leaves narrow or rather broad (linear to ovate).
Buds lateral, covered by a single scale.—Species 15, two of them only naturalized. They yield timber, plaiting-, stuffing-, and tanning-materials, and medicaments. “Willow.” (Plate 28.) Salix L.
ORDER MYRICALES
[FAMILY 48.] MYRICACEAE