branchlets often scaberulous. Leaves when present few and scattered, petiolate or almost sessile, ⅙–1 in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, often dilated or almost hastate at the base, acute or obtuse, glabrous, sometimes scaberulous on the midrib beneath; stipules short, obliquely truncate. Flowers small, polygamous; those on the male plant in lax axillary simple or branched glabrous spikes, often with a few female flowers intermixed; on the female plant in few-flowered fascicles or short dense spikes, usually with 1 or two male flowers mixed with the females. Stigmas fimbriate. Perianth succulent or remaining unaltered in fruit. Nut exceeding the perianth, black, smooth and shining, triquetrous with the angles obtuse.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 237.
Var. muricatula.—Smaller and much more slender, branchlets often almost filiform. Leaves usually present, ⅙–½ in. long, linear. Perianth-segments membranous in fruit.—M. muricatula, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 482 (perhaps a distinct species).
North Island: Hawke's Bay—Near the sea, Colenso! A. Hamilton! Upper Rangitikei, Bishop Williams, Petrie! South Island: Marlborough—Near Blenheim, Buchanan! Kirk! Canterbury—Waipara, Haast! Otago—Lower Waitaki, Hector and Buchanan; Kurow, Awamoko, Roxburgh, Petrie! Var. muricatula: North Island—Lake Taupo, Tryon! Ruapehu, H. Hill! Waipawa, A. Hamilton! Sea-level to 3000 ft, December–March.
Easily recognised by the prostrate rush-like stems, which are often entirely leafless.
Order LXVI. PIPERACEÆ.
Herbs or shrubs, often aromatic and stimulating. Leaves alternate or opposite or whorled, simple, entire; stipules wanting, or 2 connate, or adnate to the petiole. Flowers minute, hermaphrodite or unisexual, crowded on axillary or terminal catkin-like spikes, each subtended by a sessile or stipitate bract. Perianth wanting. Stamens 2 or more, hypogynous; filaments very short; anthers often jointed on the filaments, cells 2 or confluent. Ovary (except in the tribe Saurureæ, which does not occur in New Zealand) 1-celled, with a single orthotropous ovule; style wanting or very short; stigmas 1–6, various in shape. Fruit a small indehiscent berry. Seed solitary, globose or ovoid or oblong; albumen copious, farinaceous; embryo very minute, enclosed in a sac at the apex of the seed.
A large order, with some trifling exceptions confined to tropical and subtropical regions, and far more abundant in tropical America than anywhere else. Genera 8; species given at 1000, but probably overestimated. Aromatic and stimulating properties prevail through the greater part of the order. The common pepper has been used as a spice since the times of Alexander, and other species of Piper can be similarly employed. The use of the betel (Piper betel) as a masticatory is well known, also that of the kava (Piper methysticum) to prepare an intoxicating drink. The two New Zealand genera are the largest in the order, and have the widest range.
