Monographs Details:
Authority:
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Family:
Piperaceae
Piperaceae
Description:
Genus Description - Terrestrial or epiphytic, erect, prostrate, or pendulous herbs; stems succulent, glabrous or variously pubescent. Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled; the blades palmate- or pinnate-veined; petioles elongate to short or wanting. Flowers numerous, subtended by circular or elliptic, often peltate bracts, in leaf-opposed or terminal spikes; stamens 2; ovary sessile or stalked, sometimes beaked, stigma 1, terminal or lateral. Fruit a small, ellipsoid to globose drupe, sessile or stalked, smooth or verrucose, commonly viscid.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of about 1000 species, in the tropics and subtropics.
Genus Description - Terrestrial or epiphytic, erect, prostrate, or pendulous herbs; stems succulent, glabrous or variously pubescent. Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled; the blades palmate- or pinnate-veined; petioles elongate to short or wanting. Flowers numerous, subtended by circular or elliptic, often peltate bracts, in leaf-opposed or terminal spikes; stamens 2; ovary sessile or stalked, sometimes beaked, stigma 1, terminal or lateral. Fruit a small, ellipsoid to globose drupe, sessile or stalked, smooth or verrucose, commonly viscid.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of about 1000 species, in the tropics and subtropics.