CUBEBS. 



(Piper cubeba I/.) 



Aromatics, as cubebs, cinnamons and nutmegs, are usually put into crude poor wines 

 to give them more oily spirits. Floyer, "The Humors." 



The cubeb-yielding plant is not unlike 

 the pepper plant and belongs to the same 

 family (Piperaceae). The two resemble 

 each other in general habits in the form 

 of inflorescence and! in the fruiting. 



Cubebs were known to Arabian phy 

 sicians as early as the ninth century, who 

 employed them as a diuretic in kidney 

 troubles. It was also known at that time 

 that Java was the home of the plant. At 

 one time it was believed that the Car- 

 pesium of ancient writers was cubebs, but 

 this is now generally disbelieved. Edrisi 

 states that cubeb found its way to Aden 

 about 1 153. During the twelfth and thir 

 teenth centuries it was employed medicin 

 ally in Spain. Originally it was doubtless 

 employed as a spice, similar to pepper. 

 Mariano Sanudo (1306) classed it among 

 the rare and costly spices. Hildegard re 

 ferred to the soothing properties of cnbeb. 

 In the thirteenth centuty cubeb is men 

 tioned among the import articles of Lon 

 don. About the same time it found its 

 way into other European countries, nota 

 bly Germany. At the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century cubeb disappeared al 

 most entirely from medical practice. 

 About 1820 English physicians of Java 

 again began to employ it quite exten 

 sively. 



As in the case of black pepper, the fruit 



is collected before maturity and dried. 

 The fruit is about the size of the pepper, 

 but has a stalk-like prolongation which 

 distinguishes it. The pericarp becomes 

 much shriveled and wrinkled on drying. 



Cubebs are cultivated in special planta 

 tions or with coffee for which they pro 

 vide shade by spreading from the trees 

 which serve as their support. Their culti 

 vation is said to be easy. 



Cubebs have a pungent, bitter taste and 

 a characteristic aromatic odor. It cannot 

 readily be confounded with any of the 

 other more common spices. Its use as a 

 spice is almost wholly discontinued. Its 

 use in medicine is also waning, since it 

 evidently has only slight medicinal prop 

 erties. It is used in nasal and other 

 catarrhal affections. Cubeb cigarettes 

 are used in the treatment of nasal catarrh. 

 It has a marked influence upon the kid 

 neys, causing irritation an-d increased ac 

 tivity, and as already indicated it is there 

 fore a diurectic. It is, however, harmful, 

 rather than beneficial, in acute inflamma 

 tory conditions of these organs. 



Description of Plate A, twig with 

 staminate flowers ; B, fruit-bearing twig ; 

 I, upper portion of staminate inflores 

 cence ; 2, staminate flower ; 3, fruit ; 4, 5, 

 6, 7, ovary ; 8, 9, seed. 



Albert Schneider. 



191 



