WorldFloraDB - Piper mullesua

Characteristics

Climbers woody, glabrous except for rachis and bases of bracts. Stems slender, hard, basal part tuberculate. Prophylls very short; petiole 0.7-2 cm, slender; leaf blade elliptic or narrowly elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 7.5-9 × 3-4 cm, papery to thinly leathery, without glands, base cuneate, symmetric or slightly oblique, apex caudate-acuminate; veins 5(-7), abaxially very prominent, apical pair arising 1-2.5 cm above base, usually alternate; reticulate veins conspicuous. Flowers bisexual. Spikes leaf-opposed, at apices of branchlets, subglobose, ca. 3 × 2.5-3 mm; peduncle 2-3 mm; rachis pubescent; bracts orbicular, ca. 1 mm wide, peltate, abaxially glabrous; stalk short. Stamens 2; anthers reniform. Ovary obovoid; stigmas 3 or 4, very small. Drupe obovoid, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., partly immersed in rachis. Fl. May-Jul.

More

A trailing herb. It is woody. The stems are swollen at the joints. The leaves have stalks. The stalks are 0.7-2 cm long and slender. The leaves are 5.3-14 cm long by 2-8 cm wide. The leaves are oval and taper to the tip. They are papery to thinly leathery. The leaves have 5 veins. These are easy to see underneath the leaf. Flowers contain both sexes. The flowers are yellowish. The spikes are opposite the leaves and near the ends of the branches. The fruit is a berry. They are small and crowded. They are about 2.5 mm across.

Life form

-

Growth form

shrub

Growth support

climber

Foliage retention

-

Sexuality

Pollination

-

Spread

-

Mature width (meter)

-

Mature height (meter)

-

Root system

-

Rooting depth (meter)

-

Root diameter (meter)

-

Flower color

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Blooming months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Fruit color

-

Fruiting months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Nitrogen fixer

-

Photosynthetic pathway

-

Environment

A subtropical plant. In Nepal it grows between 200-2000 m altitude. It grows in steep, rocky, shady places. In China it grows on forested slopes and in valleys between 800-2100 m altitude in S China. In India it grows in wet places near falls. It occurs in the Western Ghats in India.

More

Forested slopes, valleys and ravines at elevations of 800-2,100 metres in southern China. Grows on mossy tree trunks and branches at elevations of 400-2,500 metres in Nepal.

Light	-
Soil humidity	-
Soil texture	-
Soil acidity	-
Soil nutriment	-
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

The ripe fruit are eaten fres. The flowers are added to vegetables and meat curries for flavour. The leaves are used as a substitute for betel pepper.

Uses	medicinal
Edible	flowers fruits leaves
Therapeutic use	Abdominal pain (fruit), Common cold (fruit), Cough (fruit), Headache (fruit), Antirheumatic agents (leaf), Toothache (stem)
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed or root offshoots.

Mode	seedlings
Germination duration (days)	-
Germination temperacture (C°)	-
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	-
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	-
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-

Images

Distribution

Identifiers

LSID	urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:682296-1
WFO ID	wfo-0001094058
COL ID	4J4WZ
BDTFX ID	-
INPN ID	-
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Piper nirjulianum Chavica mullesua Chavica sphaerostachya Piper pleiocarpum Piper mullesua Piper guigual Chavica guigual Piper brachystachyum var. rhombica Piper mullesua var. rhombica

WorldFloraDB 2024

Piper mullesua Buch.-ham. ex D.Don

Species

Angiosperms > Piperales > Piperaceae > Piper