Piperaceae
Piper

Piper odoratum C.DC.

First published in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 2: 52 (1911)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is E. Tanzania. It is a shrub and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Piperaceae, Bernard Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1996

Morphology General Habit
Shrub 1–3 m. tall; stems glabrous, swollen and jointed at the nodes.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves aromatic, ovate to elliptic-ovate, (8–)13.5–19.5 cm. long, (4.3–)9.5–14.2 cm. wide, acuminate at the apex, truncate to cordate at the base, glabrous above and beneath save for some pubescence at base of nerves beneath; nerves 7–9, palmate; petiole1.3–3.5 cm. long, channelled, pubescent.
sex Female
Female spikes white turning green, (8–)14.5–23 cm. long, 6 mm. wide; peduncles 2–3.5 cm. long, glabrous; peltate floral bracts round to ± triangular, ± 1 mm. wide, glabrous but hairs from base of ovary projecting and resembling ciliae. Ovary subglobose; stigmas 2.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Undoubted male or hermaphrodite spikes not seen. Female spikes white turning green, (8–)14.5–23 cm. long, 6 mm. wide; peduncles 2–3.5 cm. long, glabrous; peltate floral bracts round to ± triangular, ± 1 mm. wide, glabrous but hairs from base of ovary projecting and resembling ciliae. Ovary subglobose; stigmas 2.
sex Male and Hermaphrodite
Undoubted male or hermaphrodite spikes not seen.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit green, globose, 1.5–2 mm. wide when dry, with distinct short cylindrical style, 0.3 mm. long, visible in ± immature fruits, and ± globose stigmas 0.2 mm. long.
Habitat
Riverine forest, rocky stream bed in evergreen rain-forest of Cephalosphaera, Strombosia, Allanblackia, Newtonia buchananii, etc.; 800–1500 m.
Distribution
T3 T6 not known elsewhere
[FTEA]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0