Shrubs or subshrubs (rarely herbaceous), reclining, 2-5 m, glabrous. Leaves: petiole 1/6-1/3 length of leaf blade, winged at base. Leaf blade ovate, 20-35×17-20 cm, base narrowly and deeply obliquely cordate, apex abruptly short-acuminate to acute; surfaces abaxially and adaxially minutely pubescent, most conspicuously so along veins. Spikes 12-25 cm. Fruits not seen. Flowering all year. Thickets; 0-20 m; introduced, Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; n South America. Piper auritum has been collected as 'wild' in Broward County, Florida.