大叶蒟 da ye ju

Piper maclurei Merrill.

Climbers woody, to 10 m tall, dioecious. Stems drying pale brown, 2-3 mm thick, ridged, glabrous. Petiole 2-5 mm on wider side, pubescent; prophyll 2-3 mm; leaf blade oblong to ovate-oblong, rarely elliptic, (9-)12-17 × (2.7-)4-9 cm, leathery, pellucid dotted, abaxially sparsely villous, adaxially glabrous, base obliquely cordate, basal lobes usually overlapping, bilateral difference 4-5 mm, apex shortly acuminate; veins pinnate, ca. 9 per side, apical pair arising 5-8 cm above base, next pair thickest, usually 1-1.5 cm above base, reaching middle of leaf blade, looped, others conspicuous, ± basal; reticulate veins prominent. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male spikes ca. 10 cm × 4 mm; peduncle 1-1.5 cm, glabrous; rachis pubescent; bracts broadly obovate, ca. 1.3 × 1 mm, peltate, ciliate. Stamens 2; filaments thick, ca. 1.2 mm. Female spikes ca. 10 cm at anthesis, to 15 × 1.5-2.2 cm in fruit; rachis, densely rough pubescent; bracts obovate-oblong, adnate to rachis. ca. 2 × 1.1 mm, margin free, ciliate. Ovary ovoid; stigmas 4, apex acute. Drupe subglobose, ca. 5 mm in diam., base tapered into a stalk ca. as long as fruit. Fl. Aug-Dec.

* Forests, on trees or rocks; 100-600 m. S Guangdong, Hainan

Piper laetispicum is closely related to P. politifolium C. de Candolle, from Vietnam, and may have to be included within that species. The name "P. latispicum" C. de Candolle (Candollea 1: 230. 1923) is apparently an orthographic error for this species.