Piper sylvaticum
Piper sylvaticum is a climber in the Piperaceae, or pepper, family. It is found in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, and in Zhōngguó/China. The fruits are used in medicinal products. Description A herbaceous, dioecious climber that possesses stolons. The stems are finely powdery pubescent when young, and become ridged and furrowed when mature. It has globose drupes about 3mm in diameter. Flowers in August and September in Zhōngguó/China, in the Manas National Park of northwest Assam, flowering and fruiting occur from August to October, while in Bangladesh flowers and fruits appear from May to September. This species is distinguished anatomically by having very finely (magnification needed) powdered pubescent leaves. Other distinctive features, differentiating the species from other Piper species in Bangladesh, is yellow flowers and deeply cordate and lobed leaf bases at a macroscopic level, while bicollateral leaf vascular bundles, and para- and tetracytic stomata were identified as distinctive at microscopic anatomical level. Taxonomy The species was first described by William Roxburgh in 1820. Distribution The plant is native to Bangladesh and the Eastern Himalaya region. The Flora of China warns that the application of this name to Chinese plants is unclear, however it states that the climber is