Peperomia (peperomia)

[NL. (Ruiz and Pavon, 1794), A large genus of herbaceous plants of the apetalous order Pipe raceæ, the pepper family, and the tribe Pipereæ, characterized by the single se ile stigma, and the two stamens with the anther-cells confluent into one. There are over 400 species, found throughout warmer parts of the world, especially in America, from Florida to Chili and the Argentine Republic. They are usually prostrate and fleshy annuals, or perennial by a creeping rootstock or tuberous IMG:content-2658.jpg:[blocks in formation] Branch with Inflorescence of Peperomia magnoliæfolia . a, a flower, showing the bract, one of the two stamens, and the pistil; b, the fruit. base. They bear alternate, opposite, or whorled leaves, undivided and commonly pellucid-dotted, and minute flowers in a dense or scattered spike. P. maculata is a dwarf greenhouse-plant with ornamental spotted leaves, remarkable for its ready propagation by leaf-cuttings. P. reseda flora is cultivated for its delicate spires of pink-stemmed white flowers. P. magnoliæfolia (P. obtusifolia ) of the West Indies and Central and South America is a suc culent shrub with obovate or spatulate leaves and long curving spike-like aments. Several others, all known in cultivation as Peperomia, are the pepper-elder of British colonists.