Piper peltatum
English: Monkey's Hand; Santa Mara Plant.
Spanish: Cordoncillo; Caa-peba, = broad leaf; Periparoba; Pakina; Cachimuela; Pariparoba; Pariparova; Jaguarandi Capeba; Caena.
Synonyms: Lepianthes peltata; Piper pellatum; Heckeria peltata; Heckeria scutata; Heckeria speciosa; Piper pruinosum; Piper speciosum; Pothomorphe almirantensis; Pothomorphe iquitosensis; Pothomorphe peltata; Pothomorphe scutata; Pothomorphe speciosa; Pothomorphe tecumensi.
Source: Homoeopathic Recorder, 1898.
Region: South America; Brazil. Bolivia and Peru, north to the Caribbean and through Central America to Mexico.
Habitat: open, secondary growth; moist or wet, lowland forest or thickets, sometimes in second growth at elevations up to 600 metres.
Contents: chavicine, piperins; lignans.
Use: food, sweetish, ripe fruits ar a delicacy for children; medicine; toilet paper; with Clibadium as a fish poison.
Botany
Herb; weedy to woody; perennial; 1.5 metres tall.
Taxonomy
Piper peltatum is closely related to Piper umbellatum.
Sources
Homoeopathic Recorder, 1898.
Useful Plants of the Siona and Secoya Indians of Eastern Ecuador.
Fieldiana Botany New Series No. 15; Vickers W.T.; Plowman T.; http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org; Field Museum of Natural History; USA.; 1984; ISBN 0015 - 0746.
Cornucopia II; Facciola. S.; Kampong Publications, California; 1998; ISBN 0-9628087-2-5.
Medicinal Plants of the Guianas; DeFilipps, R. A.; Maina, S. L.; & Crepin, J.; Smithsonian Museum; http://botany.si.edu/bdg/medicinal/index.html.
Useful Plants of the Siona and Secoya Indians of Eastern Ecuador; Fieldiana Botany New Series No. 15; Vickers W.T.; Plowman T; http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org; Field Museum of Natural History; USA.; 1984; ISBNn0015 - 0746.
Flora of Guatemala; Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark; http://www.archive.org; 1946 - 1976.