| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Peperomiaceae A. C. Sm.
Common name: Pepper Family.
Number of genera 10. Number of species 2000.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound, or simple; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium, or anthocarp; simple; of authors, but not Spjut, (1994) berry, or drupe; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; compound; sorosus; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded; 1-seeded; Peperomia (1–)4-carpellate (really (1-)3–4); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); with armature, or without armature; with prickles (with barbed apices Zippelia), or warts; without armature glochidiate; smooth, or not smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; hard; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed 1 to less than 5 mm long, or 5 to less than 10 mm long; 1–6 mm long; circular, or oblong; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm and perisperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present, or absent; without embryo surrounded and capped by viscid tissue; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades); thin, or hard (cartilagenous); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development nuclear, or cellular (Peperomia); scant; with starch (Piper); with oils and proteins (Peperomia); without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Perisperm copious; sub cartilaginous, or mealy; with starch; with starch composed of clustered grains (usually); smooth. Embryo differentiated from food reserve, or undifferentiated from food reserve; rudimentary; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.04–0.2 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; lenticular, or turbinate; straight; surrounding perisperm (in hollowed center); with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons, or acotyledonous. Cotyledons 2; scarcely differentiated, or tiny; to 0.4 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle (assumed); 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; smooth; with apices entire; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle vestigial to small; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical. New World, Old World. Middle America, South America, Africa, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Hawaii (HI).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Piper aduncum L.: USA state noxious weed: HI●°. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Piper aduncum L. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Piper aduncum L.w -- Piper betle L. -- Piper cubeba L. f. -- Piper nigrum L. -- Symbols: aagricultural and vegetable seeds (Table 2A Part 1); ttree and shrub species (Table 2A Part 2); fflower, spice, herb, and medicinal seeds (Table 2A Part 3); wweed seeds. -- Last updated September 2008.
Accepted genera
Lindeniopiper Trel. -- Macropiper Miq. -- Manekia Trel. -- Peperomia Ruiz & Pav. -- Piper L. -- Piperanthera C. DC. -- Trianaeopiper Trel. -- Verhuellia Miq. -- Zippelia Blume ex Schult. & Schult. f.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 86.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, Corner, E.J.H. 1976. The seeds of Dicots, esp. vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, New York, Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, Gaertner, J. 1788–1805. De fructibus et seminibus plantarum. The Author, Stuttgart, Goldberg, A. 1986 (dicots) and 1989 (monocots). Classification, evolution, and phylogeny of the familes of Dicotyledons. Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 58 for dicots (314 pp.) and 71 for monocots (74 pp.). [Goldberg's illustrations are reproduced from older publications and these should be consulted], Gunn, C.R. and C.A. Ritchie. 1988. Identification of disseminules listed in the Federal Noxious Weed Act. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1719:1–313, Gunn, C.R., J.H. Wiersema, C.A. Ritchie, and J.H. Kirkbride, Jr. 1992 and amendments. Families and genera of Spermatophytes recognized by the Agricultural Research Service. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1796:1–500, LeMaout, E. and J. Decaisne. 1876. A general system of botany, 1,065 p. Longmans, Green, and Co., London, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Roosmalen, M.G.M. van. 1985. Fruits of the Guianan flora, 483 pp. Institute of Systematic Botany, Wageningen Agricultural University. Drukkerij Veenman B.V., Wageningen, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Roosmalen, Engler & Prantl, Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Karen, Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 021: Lindeniopiper williamsii Trel. (A-C), Piper (Ottonia) ovata (Vahl) Tres. (D-F), Peperomia galioides (Sw.) A. Dietr. (G-I), Piper nigrum L. (J-L), Pleiostachyopiper nuilimbum (C. DC.) Trel. (M-O), Piper (Pothomorphe) peltata L. (2: A-C), Sarcorhachis incurva (Sieb. ex C. DC.) Trel. (D-F), Trianaeopiper confertinodum Trel. & Yuncker (G-I), Zippelia lappacea Benn. (J-L).
• Seed. 1 of 16. Peperomia sp.: seed. • Fruit. 2 of 16. Piper nudilimbum C. DC.: fruit. • Seed. 3 of 16. Piper nudilimbum C. DC.: seeds. • Fruit. 4 of 16. Piper cubeba L. f.: fruits. • Seed. 5 of 16. Piper cubeba L. f.: seed. • Fruit. 6 of 16. Zippelia begoniifolia Blume: fruit. • Seed. 7 of 16. Zippelia begoniifolia Blume: seeds. • Embryo. 8 of 16. Lindeniopiper williamsii Trel.: embryo. • Embryo. 9 of 16. Peperomia galioides Kunth: embryo. • Embryo. Piper confertinodum (Trel. & Yunck.) M. A. Jaram. & Callejas: embryo. 10 of 16. • Embryo. 11 of 16. Piper nigrum L.: embryo. • Embryo. 12 of 16. Piper nudilimbum C. DC.: embryo. • Embryo. 13 of 16. Piper ovatum Vahl: embryo. • Embryo. 14 of 16. Piper petaltum L.: embryo. • Embryo. 15 of 16. Sarcorhachis incurva (Sieber ex Schult.) Trel.: embryo. • Embryo. 16 of 16. Zippelia begoniifolia Blume: embryo.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, and M.J. Dallwitz. 2000 onwards. Family guide for fruits and seeds: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 12th April 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
