Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Piper hederaceum var. hederaceum

Male flower head. Australian Plant Image Index, Australian Tropical Rainforest key, photographer unknown

Ripe fruit and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, Australian Tropical Rainforest key, photographer unknown

Common name

Giant pepper vine

Family

Piperaceae

Where found

Rainforest and near streams. Coast and ranges north of Bermagui.

Notes

Large climber, climbing on tree trunks by small adventitious roots, branches up to 30 cm diameter. Fruit fleshy. Stems hairless, jointed and enlarged at the nodes, with scars encircling the stems from the expanded bases of fallen leaf stipules. Older stems woody. Leaves alternating up the stems, 3–15 cm long, 12–120 mm wide, bases often with one side longer than the other, and rounded or pointed on exposed 'sun leaves', or cordate on 'shade leaves'; surfaces hairless, upper surface dark green and glossy, lower surface paler and dull, tips pointed. Male and female flowers on different plants or on the same plant. Flowers occasionally bisexual. Flowers minute, with 0 petals, each subtended by a bract. Flowers in many-flowered spikes, male spikes cylindrical, 10–60 mm long, female spikes oval, 5–25 mm long. Fruit red, 4-8 mm long, oval to round, in clusters about 50-60 mm long.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Piper~hederaceum+var.~hederaceum  (accessed 1 February, 2021)