2 28 PLANT ORGANS OR PARTS OF PLANTS. 



Chemistry. — Cloves contain an ethereal oil, consisting 

 of hydrocarbon and eugenol ; some eugenin, caryophyllin, 

 and vegetable mucus. 



CUBEBA. CUBEBS. 



Cubebs is the unripe fruit of Piper cubeba, a plant now 

 extensively cultivated in the Eastern countries, notably 

 Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Antilles; though origi- 

 nally it was indigenous to these places and even now is 

 found there growing wild. It is widely cultivated about 

 the coffee plantations, growing on • or about the trees 

 which are planted in these places to protect the coffee 

 plants. The fruit is collected before ripening and is 

 handled mainly by the Chinese. 



Description. — The cubebs of the market are spherical, 

 dark-brown, grayish-brown and black, and measure 

 about one-fifth of an inch in diameter (5 mm.). They 

 are usually provided with stems about the same length as 

 the fruit or somewhat longer. The surface is hard and 

 irregularly netted or reticulated. At the summit there 

 are the small, lighter colored, pointed remnants of the 

 pistil. The base is contracted to meet the remnant of the 

 stalk, which is anatomically continuous with the outer 

 layers of the pericarp. 



Histology. — With a lens the cross-section shows a 

 brownish outer pericarp making up about one-third of the 

 radius of the fruit. The large perisperm makes up the 

 rest of the section. The endosperm is small, and is lo- 

 cated at the upper end of the seed, just beneath the rem- 

 nant of the pistil, and contains the embryo. 



Under higher magnification the pericarp is seen to be 

 made up of at least three more or less distinct zones. 

 The epidermis consists of regular quadratic cells, with 

 thickened outer walls, resting directly upon a layer of 

 stone cells, which may be in one or two rows. This 

 layer of stone cells may be broken here and there. The 



