Piper fanshawei
Content
Description
Small shrub to 2 m tall. Stem glabrous. Petiole 1-2 cm long, glabrous, vaginate below middle; blade not scabrous, not glandular- but finely pellucid-dotted, elliptic(-oblong), 10-14 x 3-4.5 cm; margin not ciliate, apex acuminate, base equal or unequally attached to petiole difference 0.2 cm, acute, glabrous; pinnately veined, secondary veins 5-6 per side, originating from throughout primary vein, plane or inconspicuous above, slightly prominulous below, tertiary veins inconspicuous. Inflorescence erect; peduncle filiform, 1-1.5 cm long; spike 2 cm long, apiculate; floral bracts dorsally fringed, crowded. Fruits obovoid, puberulent at depressed apex, stigmas sessile.
Notes
Glabrous plants with pubescent fruits mark the species. It is difficult to identify collections without mature fruits.
Piper fanshawei can easily be mistaken for P. cuyunianum Steyerm. (1984: 391) from SW Venezuela, but differs in having pubescent fruits whereas P. cuyunianum has glabrous fruits.
Piper fanshawei differs from P. bolivaranum in the wider leaves: in P. fanshawei 3-4.5 cm wide, in P. bolivaranum 0.7-1.5 cm; P. bolivaranum also has glabrous — not pubescent — fruits.
Piper fanshawei can easily be mistaken for P. cuyunianum Steyerm. (1984: 391) from SW Venezuela, but differs in having pubescent fruits whereas P. cuyunianum has glabrous fruits.
Piper fanshawei differs from P. bolivaranum in the wider leaves: in P. fanshawei 3-4.5 cm wide, in P. bolivaranum 0.7-1.5 cm; P. bolivaranum also has glabrous — not pubescent — fruits.