Abstract:
The genus Piper has high commercial importance as it contains cultivated crops (black pepper
and betel) and medicinal plants that are mostly used in traditional medicine. In Sri Lanka the
genus Piper is represented by ten species including five wild species. It is necessary to examine
their chemical composition and morphology as they have received little attention for utilizing
their valuable traits for crop improvement. Piper nigrum L., P. betle L., P. longum L., P. chuvya
(Miq.) C. DC., P. siriboa L., P. sylvestre Lam., P. zeylanicum Miq. P. walkeri Miq were subjected to
morphological and phytochemical study using the specimens collected from natural habitats and
from the cultivations. The air dried and powdered leaves were used for qualitative phytochemical
screening. Qualitative phytochemical screening was carried out to identify the different
chemical compounds in petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and water. The study confirmed
the presence of tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides, alkaloids and phenolic compounds.
Anatomical studies were carried out by obtaining leaf epidermal peels and cross sections. Thirteen
morphological and anatomical characters were subjected to cluster analysis using PAST software
to infer their relationships. According to the phenogram (Single linkage, Euclidean distance) the
taxa were divided into two main clusters; P. longum, P. zeylanicum, P. sylvestre, P. nigrum and P.
walkeri formed one cluster whereas P. chuvya, P. betle, P. siriboa formed the other cluster sharing
similarities. P. betle varieties were clustered together with P. siriboa and P. chuvya within the
second cluster. Therefore, potential strengths in disease resistance of P. siriboa and P. chuvya can
be used to develop improved varieties of betel to minimize economic losses due to epidemics in
cultivations.
