CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 249 



inent middle nerves and two side nerves ; the flowers are perfect, 

 sessile and form an elongated fleshy spike ; the fruit is a berry 

 which is yellowish-red when ripe. The unripe fruit constitutes 

 the BLACK PEPPER of commerce (p. 571). White pepper (p. 

 573) is the ripe berry from which the epicarp is removed, while 

 "long pepper" (p. 573) is obtained from Piper longum, an en- 

 tirely different plant. 



Piper Cubeba is a climbing perennial with leathery elliptical- 

 ovate or long elliptical leaves ; the flowers are dioecious and ar- 

 ranged in spikes ; the fruit is a berry, the pedicel becoming much 

 elongated after fertilization. The unripe fruit is the part used in 

 medicine and is official as cubeb (p. 569; Fig. 250). 



-Piper angustifolimn yields the official matico (p. 617). The 

 plant is a shrub growing in Central and South America and is 

 characterized by its long, oblong-lanceolate, deeply reticulate, 

 very hairy leaves. The flowers and fruits are very small and 

 arranged in long, slender spikes, which are frequently found in the 

 drug. Matico contains 2 to 3 per cent, of a volatile oil, contain- 

 ing a stearoptene matico camphor, which appears to be the most 

 important constituent. It also contains an acrid resin, a bitter 

 principle and a crystalline principle artanthic acid. Other related 

 species of Piper are used in tropical America similarly to Piper 

 angustifolium. 



The leaves of a number of species of Piper (known as "betel 

 leaves ") are mixed with the Areca nut and lime and constitute 

 what is known as " Betel," which compound is used for 

 chewing, in India and other countries, chiefly on account 

 of its astringency. The root of Piper methysticnm is also 

 chewed, and when mixed with the milk of the Cocoanut 

 yields an intoxicating drink which is used by the inhabitants of 

 the Sandwich Islands. The dried root has been used in medicine 

 under the name of Methysticum or Kava-kava. It consists of 

 large, branching, soft, spongy, dark brown pieces, which are 

 tough, fibrous and with a pungent, somewhat bitter taste. Kava- 

 kava contains 3 resins, one of which has marked anaesthetic prop- 

 erties ; an alkaloid, kavaine ; a neutral body, methysticin ; and 

 about 50 per cent, of starch. The drug is free from calcium oxal- 

 ate crystals, these being usually wanting in the Piperaceae. 



