English: Monkey's Hand; Santa Mara Plant.
Spanish: Cordoncillo; Caa-peba, = broad leaf; Periparoba; Pakina; Cachimuela; Pariparoba; Pariparova; Jaguarandi Capeba; Caena.
Synonym: 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.
BotanyHerb; weedy to woody; perennial; 1.5 metres tall.
TaxonomyPiper peltatum is closely related to
Piper umbellatum.
SourcesHomoeopathic 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.