Small herb, spreading when mature. Leaves elliptic to obovate, mostly more than 10 cm long and 5 cm wide, blunt at the tip and tapering to the base, veins mostly 5-7, palmate. Leaf stalks mostly more than 3 cm long. Flower spikes to 12 cm long, green. [p. magnoliifolia (Jacq.) a. Dietr.]
P. magnoliifolia is sometimes treated as a separate species.
Variegated cultivars may be encountered.
Tropical America, Mexico, West Indies
Source: (1997). Piperaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
