Piperaceae

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Piperaceae
Piper nigrum, from Koehler (1887)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Magnoliids
Order:	Piperales
Family:	Piperaceae Giseke, nom. cons.

The Piperaceae, also known as the pepper family, is a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,610 currently accepted species in five genera. The vast majority of peppers can be found within the two main genera: Piper (2000 species) and Peperomia (1600 species).^[1]

Members of the Piperaceae may be small trees, shrubs or herbs. The distribution of this group is best described as pantropical.

The most well known species is Piper nigrum, which yields most peppercorns that are used as spices, including black pepper, although its relatives in the family include many other spices.^[2]

Etymology

The name Pipereraceae is likely derived from the Sanskrit term pippali, which was used to describe long peppers (like that of Piper longum).

Taxonomy

The APG III system of 2009 recognizes this family, and assigns it to the order Piperales in the unranked clade magnoliids. The family consists of five genera: Piper, Peperomia, Zippelia, Manekia, and Verhuellia. The previously recognised pacific genus Macropiper, was recently merged into Piper.^[3] A tentative cladogram showing relationships based on Wanke et al. (2007)^[4] is shown below. This phylogeny was based on 6000 basepairs of chloroplast DNA. Only recently has it become clear that Verhuellia is sister to the other four genera in the family.^[5]

Characteristics

Members of pepper family are small trees, shrubs, or perennial or annual herbs.

Roots and Stems

Plants are often rhizomatous, and can be terrestrial or epiphytic. The stems can be either simple or branched.

Leaves

Leaves are simple with entire margins, and are positioned at the base of the plant or along the stem, and can be alternate, opposite, or whorled in arrangement. Stipules are usually present, as are petioles. The leaves are often noticeably aromatic when crushed.

Flowers

Inflorescences (in the form of spikes) are terminal, opposite the leaves, or located in the axils. Flowers are bisexual, with no perianth, each flower is subtended by a peltate bract. Stamens are 2-6, and hypogynous, with 2-locular anthers. There are usually 3-4 stigmas attached to a single pistil per flower, which is 1 or 3-4 carpellate. The ovary is 1 locular, and superior.

Fruits and Seeds

Fruits are drupelike, with a single seed per fruit. The seeds have a minute embryo, and mealy perisperm.^[6]

Genera

Subfamily Verhuellioideae Samain & Wanke

• Verhuellia Miquel 1843 (3 species)

Subfamily Zippelioideae Samain & Wanke

• Zippellia Blume 1830 (1 species)
• Manekia Trelease 1927 (6 species)

Subfamily Piperoideae Arnott

• Piper Linnaeus 1753 (about 2000 species)
• Peperomia Ruiz & Pavon 1794 (about 1600 species)

References

1. ^ Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website Version 9, June 2008 http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/welcome.html
2. ^ Ravindran PN. 2000 Black Pepper, Piper nigrum. Harwood Acadiic, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 553 p.
3. ^ Wanke, S., Jaramillo, M.A., Borsch, T., Samain, M.-T., Quandt, D., and Neinhuis, C. (2007) Evolution of Piperales—matK gene and trnK intron sequence data reveal lineage specific resolution contrast. Mol. Phy. Evol. 42: 477-497.
4. ^ Wanke, S., Vanderschaeve, L., Mathieu, G., Neinhuis, C., Goetghebeur, P., and Samain, M.S. (2007) From Forgotten Taxon to a Missing Link? The Position of the Genus Verhuellia (Piperaceae) Revealed by Molecules. Annals of Botany, 99: 1231-1238.
5. ^ Samain et al. (2010) Verhuellia is a segregate lineage in Piperaceae: more evidence from flower, fruit and pollen morphology, anatomy and development. Annals of Botany, 105.
6. ^ Boufford, D.E. (1997)). Flora of North America - Piperaceae. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10692l

External links

• Angiosperm Phylogeny Website
• Piperaceae at the DELTA Online Families of Flowering Plants
• Piperaceae at the online Flora of North America
• Piperaceae at the online Flora of China
• Piperaceae at the online Flora of Zimbabwe
• Piperaceae at the NCBI Taxonomy Browser
• Piperaceae at the online Piperaceae in Thailand

Media related to Piperaceae at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Piperaceae at Wikispecies