嵌果胡椒 qian guo hu jiao

Climbers to 10 m, glabrous throughout, dioecious. Stems slender, nodes swollen, internodes 6-10 cm. Petiole 5-10 mm; leaf blade ovate, 6-10 × 2-4 cm, rigidly papery, base cuneate, symmetric or slightly oblique, apex acute to ± acuminate; veins 5, apical pair arising 1-2 cm above base, alternate, others basal; reticulate veins conspicuous. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male spikes 2-5 cm × ca. 2 mm; peduncle 2-3 × as long as petiole; bracts orbicular or suborbicular, ca. 1.5 mm wide, peltate, subsessile. Stamens 2; filaments very short. Female spikes 1.5-3 cm × ca. 2 mm; peduncle 1.5-3 cm, slender, bracts as in male spikes. Ovary immersed in and connate to rachis; stigmas 3. Drupe globose, 2.5-3 mm, partly connate to rachis.

* 700-1100 m. Hainan

The protologue compared this species with Piper hancei but the infructescence is very similar to that of P. austrosinense.