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P.sugandhi
| Botany: | A stout woody climber, dioecious and perennial, reaching to a height of 10m or more; branches terete, Swollen at the nodes, glabrous, orthotropic shoot tips purple; leaves alternate, glabrous, coriaceous, ovate to ovate-lanceolae, acuminate, base round to acute and often oblique, margins slightly wavy, more prominent in young leaves; 7- 13 cm long and 3-8 cm broad in female, prominently 5-7 ribbed, more conspicuous on the lower side, the basal pair of ribs sub opposite, others alternate. Petiole about 2 cm, grooved, margins modified as sheaths, sheaths coducous. Male spikes slender, fleshy, filiform and pendant or recurved, 10- 14 cm long. Flowers held at right angles to the rachis, stipitate, bracteate, bracts deeply copular with free margins, stamens two, filaments short and thick, embedded in the copular bract, anthers projecting out at maturity; dithecous, dehiscing by apical longitudinal slits. Ovary ovoid, monocarpellary, embedded inside the copular bract except for the tip; style absent, stigma 3- lobed, fleshy, white when young. Fruits oblong, bold, 0.8-1.0 cm diam., pungent as in black pepper, turns yellow and then to red on ripening. Flowering season is April- May, fruits mature in December- January. |
| Keyfeature: | Bracts deeply cupular, flowers shortly stipitate | | Distribution: | -- |
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