MATICO 147 



pepper, consist of small grayish-black fragments, containing numerous 

 stone cells, and they yield a high percentage of fiber and ash. 



Ground black pepper is sometimes adulterated with pepper hulls 

 or pepper shells, which are the outer layers of the ripe fruit and are 

 obtained in the preparation of white pepper. Pepper hulls consist 

 chiefly of the stone cells described above. They increase the per- 

 centage of crude fiber and ash in the powder, the latter being due to 

 adhering dirt. Ground black pepper sometimes consists of a mix- 

 ture of pepper hulls, capsicum and the endocarp of the olive (Fig. 64). 

 In the latter the lumen of the stone cells is filled with air. Black 

 pepper has also been adulterated with flaxseed meal and buckwheat 

 hulls. The latter are distinguished by the epidermal cells with 

 peculiar diagonal thickening of the walls and the hypodermal fibers 

 which have thick, porous walls and brown contents. 



Substitutes. The fruit of Embelia ribes (Fam. Myrsinaceae), a 

 small tree of India, has been used as an adulterant of both pepper 

 and cubeb. The blackish drupes resemble black pepper. They are 

 very aromatic and yield a principle, embelic acid, which crystallizes 

 in golden-yellow prisms, the alcoholic solution of which is colored 

 red with ammonia. 



The fruit of Polyadenia pipericarpa (Fam. Lauracese), of Sumatra, 

 is also used in place of pepper. The fruits of a number of species of 

 Xylopia (Fam. Anonacese) contain aromatic and bitter principles, 

 some of these being used as a condiment like pepper, as X. aethiopica, 

 which are also used as a medium of exchange by the natives of Uadai 

 (Africa), and X. grandiflora, X. sericea and X. frutescens of Brazil. 

 X. aromatica yields the Guinea pepper. 



Literature. Kraemer and Sindall, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1908, 

 p. 1 ; Molisch, Grundriss einer Histochemie der Pflanzlichen Genuss- 

 mittel, (1891), pp. 27-29. 



Matico. The dried leaves of Piper angustifolium (Fam. Piper- 

 aceae), a shrub indigenous to Peru and Boliva. 



Description. Usually in large, compressed, matted masses; 

 lamina narrow, oblong-lanceolate, 10 to 20 cm. long, 2 to 5 cm. 

 broad; summit acute and long-tapering; base unequal, slightly 

 cordate; margin finely crenulate, with broad, truncate teeth; upper 

 surface dark green, tessellated, harsh to the touch from .the presence 

 of numerous very small papillae and minute, bristly hairs ; lower sur- 

 face grayish-green, reticulate, matted-hairy, velvety to the touch, 

 the veins being very prominent and yellowish-brown, those of the 

 first order diverging at an angle of 65 to 80, then curving and con- 

 verging at the summit; petiole 2 to 3 mm. long, texture fragile when 



