CUBEBS. 



{Piper aibeba L.) 



Aromatics, as cubebs, cinnamons and nutmeg-s, are usually put into crude poor vrines 

 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 1153. 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 cubeb. 

 In the thirteenth century 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 Germ.any. 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 and 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 



