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Piperaceae

 
(′pip·ə′rās·ē′ē)

(botany) A family of dicotyledonous plants in the order Piperales characterized by alternate leaves, a solitary ovule, copious perisperm, and scanty endosperm.


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WordNet: Piperaceae
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: tropical woody vines and herbaceous plants having aromatic herbage and minute flowers in spikelets
  Synonyms: family Piperaceae, pepper family


Wikipedia: Piperaceae
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Piperaceae
Piper nigrum, from Koehler (1887)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Magnoliids
Order: Piperales
Family: Piperaceae
Bercht. & J.Presl (1820)
genera

Arctottonia
Discipiper
Lepianthes
Macropiper
Manekia
Peperomia
Piper
Piperanthera
Pleiostachyopiper
Sarcorhachis
Trianaeopiper
Zippelia

Piperaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists: it is sometimes known as the "pepper family". The best known species is Piper nigrum, which yields the most famous peppercorns used as a spice, including "black pepper", although its cousins in the family include many other spices.

The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), also recognizes this family, and assigns it to the order Piperales in the clade magnoliids.

The family consists of about a dozen genera, totalling two to three thousand species of usually aromatic plants. The best known genera are Peperomia and Piper.

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Learn More
black pepper (food engineering)
cubeb (botany)
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Sci-Tech Dictionary. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Piperaceae" Read more