146 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



7 per cent of total ash, nor more than 1.5 per cent of ash insoluble in 

 hydrochloric acid. 



Ground black pepper is the product made by grinding the entire 

 berry of Piper nigrum L. It contains the several parts of the berry 

 in their normal proportions. . 



Long pepper is the dried fruit of Piper longum L. 



White pepper is the dried mature berry of Piper nigrum L., from 

 which the outer coating, or the outer and inner coatings have been 

 removed. It contains not less than 7 per cent of non-volatile ether 

 extract, not less than 52 per cent of starch, not more than 5 per cent 

 of crude fiber, not more than 3.5 per cent of total ash, nor more than 

 0.3 per cent of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid. (U. S. Dept Agric.) 



Allied Products. The fruits of Piper nigrum are sometimes 

 allowed to ripen and the epicarp is separated by hand or machinery 

 after the fruits have been soaked in salt water or lime water. The 

 fruits are then known as white peppercorns or white pepper, are 

 nearly smooth, of a light gray or yellow color, and, while less aromatic 

 and pungent than the black pepper or black peppercorns, possess 

 a fine flavor. White pepper yields 3.9 to 6.47 per cent of 

 piperine. 



Piper longum, a shrub indigenous to the Malay Archipelago, 

 yields the so-called " long pepper," which consists of the entire 

 spikes of the immature fruit; the spikes are cylindrical, from 2.5 to 

 4 cm. long, about 5 mm. thick, of a grayish-black color, and the 

 drupes are less aromatic and pungent than the official pepper. In 

 structure long pepper is distinguished by the absence of oil cells in 

 the sarcocarp, and " beaker cells " of the endocarp, and the larger 

 starch grains (0.002 to 0.010 mm. in diameter) in the perisperm. 

 Long pepper yields about 1 per cent of a volatile oil with the pungent 

 taste of the oil of pepper but an odor resembling that of ginger; and 

 about 4.24 per cent of piperine. 



Long pepper is also obtained from Piper officinarum, of Java, 

 India and the Philippine Islands; Piper sylvaticum, of Eastern 

 India; Chavica officinarum, of the West Indies; and Pepperonia 

 acuminata, of Peru. 



Adulterants. The poorer black peppers, known as Acheen 

 pepper, are light in weight, consist more or less of shells and are 

 usually considerably broken. They are frequently contaminated 

 with stems, earth and small stones. Penang white pepper has a 

 grayish color and is coated with a substance containing considerable 

 calcium carbonate. Pepper hulls or pepper shells, representing the 

 broken pericarp of the fruit obtained in the preparation of white 



