CUBEBA 133 



Dose: 5 to 30 gr. (0.3 to 2 Gm.). It is rarely employed medicinally, 

 being principally used as a flavor. 



87 a. VANILLINUM (U.S.P. IX) is described as methylprotocatechnic aldehyde. 

 Should contain not more than 0.05 per cent, of ash. 



PIPERACEJE 



Herbaceous or shrubby tropical plants, with jointed stems, and flowers, desti- 

 tute of floral envelopes, arranged in spikes or spicate racemes. The entire order 

 possesses pungent and aromatic properties, due to the presence of volatile oil and 

 resin. 



Synopsis of Drugs from the Piperacece 



A. Fruits. B. Volatile Oil. D. Roots. 



CUBEBA, 88. OLEUM CUBEB^E, Yerba Mansa, 93. 



PIPER, 89. 88 a. Jambu Assu, 94. 



Piper Album, 90. C. Leaves. Methysticum, 95. 



Piper Longum, 91. *Matico, 92. 



88. CUBEBA. CUBES 



CUBEBS 



The dried unripe but fully grown fruit of Pi'per cube'ba Linn6 films. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Stem climbing, rooting at the joints. Leaves 4 to 

 7 inches long, petiolate, oblong to ovate. Flowers dioecious, in spikes opposite 

 the leaves. Fruit larger than black pepper, globose, on pedicels about % 

 of an inch long. 



SOURCE. Java, Sumatra, Borneo; also in West Indies. It grows exten- 

 sively in coffee plantations or in grounds reserved for that purpose. 

 The fruit after gathering is sent to Java, thence to Singapore, where 

 it enters the market. 



DESCRIPTION or DRUG. The official cubebs are picked while green, be- 

 coming brown or black and reticulately wrinkled on drying; they 

 are about the size of a pea, still attached to the slender stalk; this 

 stalk is longer than the fruit, and is formed by the downward length- 

 ening of the pericarp, continuous with the prominent raised ridges 

 on the surface of the berry. The shell or pericarp is hard, almost 

 ligneous, and incloses a central cavity or a black, shrunken seed; 

 odor and taste aromatic, spicy, pungent. 

 Powder. Characteristic elements: See Part iv, Chap. I, B. 



ADULTERATIONS. Frequently adulterated with stems. Black pepper 

 and other piperaceous fruits are often met with, but these are rarely 

 intentional adulterants. Rhamnus catharticus (buckthorn berries) 

 is sometimes used as an adulterant and may be readily distinguished 

 by its four -seed fruit. 



