Morphological diversity and characterization of some of the wild Piper species of North East India

Abstract

The genus Piper is well known for their medicinal and economic potentials and is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Majority of the taxa under the genus Piper are morphologically confusing because of the wide range of variations within the vegetative characters. A total of 22 morphological characters, including both vegetative and reproductive characters were studied at a mature stage in 35 accessions of Piper taxa collected from North East India representing 12 species. The morphometric variables were analyzed using variance and Principal Component Analysis. It was carried out to identify the useful characters that can contribute to distinguish various species. The Unweighted Pair Group Method and Arithmetic Average clustering method for the vegetative traits and reproductive traits show two principal clusters. The present study revealed the importance of the morphological characters in delimitation of taxonomic grouping of the confusing species.

Piper betleoides C. DC.: Edible source of betel‐scented sesquiterpene‐rich essential oil

“…The books on regional and national Flora (Flora of Assam, Flora of British India, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China), taxonomic revisionary, monographic literature and scientific articles were consulted . The Piper species distributed in north‐east India and adjoining geographical regions of Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar were studied.…”

“…P. betleoides have majorly been studied on the aspect of its taxonomy and the bioactivities of various solvent extracts till date. [21][22][23][24][25] However, no detailed and systematic studies have been carried out on its oleochemical profiling. In this study, unambiguous taxonomic identification of the species was made followed by the investigation on essential oil yield and composition across different vegetative as well as reproductive tissues of P. betleoides.…”

“…The books on regional and national Flora (Flora of Assam, Flora of British India, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China), taxonomic revisionary, monographic literature and scientific articles were consulted. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The Piper species distributed in north-east India and adjoining geographical regions of Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar were studied. In addition, the protologues and type specimens deposited in several herbaria such as Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata (CAL); Eastern Regional Centre, BSI, Shillong, Meghalaya (ASSAM) as well as different virtual herbaria were investigated.…”

“…Leaves of this plant are consumed at the native households in this region especially in the state of Assam as an alternative to P. betle during its unavailability. P. betleoides have majorly been studied on the aspect of its taxonomy and the bioactivities of various solvent extracts till date . However, no detailed and systematic studies have been carried out on its oleochemical profiling.…”

“…Extensive variability in vegetative and reproductive characters, large number of species and widespread distribution within the genus ofPiper has enhanced the risk of ambiguous or erroneous identification 22. Therefore, authentic identification of a Piper species through critical taxonomic investigation is essential.…”