Piper

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Piperaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Piper

  • Description

    Genus Description - Shrubs, rarely small trees or woody vines; stems commonly nodose. Leaves alternate, petiolate, often inequilateral at the sometimes with pellucid dots, the venation pinnate or palmate. Flowers usually bisexual, numerous, in typically solitary, simple leafopposed spikes, bracts peltate; stamens 2-6; ovary sessile; stigma 2-5, sessile or with a short or thick style. Fruit a drupe, ellipsoid to subglobose.

    Distribution and Ecology - A tropical genus with more than 2000 species.