Piper submultinerve (Piper submultinerve)
Description
Piper, the pepper plants or pepper vines (a term used for certain Clematis in older times), are an economically and ecologically important genus in the family Piperaceae. It contains about 1,000-2,000 species of shrubs, herbs, and lianas, many of which are dominant species in their native habitat. The diversification of this taxon is of interest to understanding the evolution of plants. Piper species have a pantropical distribution, and are most commonly found in the understory of lowland tropical rainforests, but can also occur in clearings and in higher elevation life zones such as cloud forests; one species (Japanese Pepper, P. kadsura, from southern Japan and southernmost Korea) is subtropical and can tolerate light winter frost. Peppers are often dominant species where they are found. Most Piper species are either herbaceous or vines; some grow as shrubs or almost as small trees. A few species, commonly called "ant pipers" (e.g. Piper cenocladum), live in a mutualism with ants. The fruit of the Piper plant, called a peppercorn when it is round and pea-sized, as is usual, is distributed in the wild mainly by birds, but small fruit-eating mammals – e.g. bats of the genus Carollia – are also important. Despite the high content of chemicals that are noxious to herbivores, some have evolved the ability to withstand the chemical defences of pepper plants, for example the sematurine moth Homidiana subpicta or some flea beetles of the genus Lanka. The latter can be significant pests to pepper growers.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Piperales
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Family: Piperaceae
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Genus: Piper
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