FRUCTUS PIPERIS LONG! 583 



Production — In Bengal the plants arc cultivated by suckers, and 

 require to be grown on a rich, high and dry soil ; tbcy should be f^ct 

 about five feet asunder. An English acre will yield in the first year 

 about three nmunds (1 maund = 80 lbs.) of the pepper, iu the second 

 twelve, and in the third eighteen; after whicb, as the plant beeomcs 



as 



Pijjli-m^d, of which there is a large consumption in India as a medicine. 

 The pepper is gathered in the month of January, when full grown, and 

 exposed to the sun until perfectly dry. After the fruit has been col- 

 lected, the stem and branches die down to the ground.^ 



Description 



baccate 



fruits, closely packed around a common axis, the whole forming a spike 

 of li inch long and i of an inch thick. The spike is supported on 



a stalk i an inch long; it is rounded above and below, and tai)ers slightly 

 towards its upper end. The fruits are ovoid, yV of an inch long, crowned 

 with a nipple-like point (the remains of the stigma), and arranged 

 spirally with a small peltate bract beneath each. A transverse section 

 of a spike exhibits 8 to 10 separate fruits, disposed radially with their 

 narrower end pointed towards the axis. Beneath the pericarp, the thm 

 brown testa encloses a colourless albumen, of which the obtuser end is 



occupied by the small embryo. .^ .. 



The long pepper of the shops is greyish-white, and appears as it it 

 had been i oiled in some earthy powder. When washed, the spikes 

 acrpiire their proper colour,— a deep reddish-brown. Ihe drug nas a 

 burning aromatic taste, and an agreeable but not powerful o^ioui. 



The foregoing description applies to the long pepper ot J^nglis i 



commerce, which is now obtained chiefly from Jf "^^f ^^'^^^^ ^is 

 ^vhere P. officinarum is the common species. In fact the ^|-u ^l inis 



latter, as presented to us by Mr. Binnendyk, of tl^t-^i"^"': ': l dT t n^ 

 Buitenzorg, near Batavia, offer no characters by which we can distin 

 guish them from the article found in the London shops i nose 



of 



densum 



tliat they are collected for use. 



extremely similar, but we do not know 



Microscopic Structure-The structure of th^ j^f-^^)^^^^^^^^^ 

 resembles that of black pepper, exhibiting however ^^"^^ J^^^^^^^ 

 differences. The epicarp has on the outside, t^||f/^fj^^^ 

 ^.ick-walled, nanx>.i cell^, containing gum ;2^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ,,, 



wider, thin-walled, obviously porous PJ^^-ef^^.^^Jthrfruft' numerous 

 di-ops of oil. In the outer and middle layers of ^_^^l''^' r p ■ ^ ^ ^, 



arranged cells, filled with volatile oil. A row ot ^"^;^''^;^^^.^f,,j testa, 

 extended cells separates these oil-cells from the compac ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ 

 which consists of lignified cells like the inner ia>ci o ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^,j^^ 

 pepper, but without the thick- walled cells P*:;^^"^;^/^!^^.!, pepper by the 

 albumen of long pepper is distinguished from that ot i U 



The constitn^its of lor^pe^r appear 



absence of volatile oil. 



mical 



as 



We ascertained the presence 



Roxburgh, Flora Indlca, u (1S32) 155 



