5(J8 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



1. C. officinalis, Miquel. — A climbing- shrub with smooth leaves ; the lower, cordate 

 at base, ovate, with a short point ; the upper, ovate, more elongated, with a rounded base 

 and smaller. In the male plant 5, female 5 — 9-nerved. Catkins on peduncles as long- 

 as the petioles ; in the male slenderer than in the female ; bracts coarsely hairy ; berries 

 globular, pedicels longer than themselves. 



P. cubeba, Linn., Suppl, 90 ; Nees and Eberm, Handbuch, i. 102 ; Lind- 

 ley, Fl. Med. 313; Blume, Act. Bat. xi. 200, f. 21 ; C. officinalis, Micquel, 

 Syst. Piper. 



This, according to Lindley, is the P. cubeba of the Linnsean Herbarium, 

 and Miquel states that it is a native of the west part of Java and the adjacent 

 small islands, also cultivated in the lower parts of Java, whence large quan- 

 tities are annually exported. Blume (I. c), states that although of good 

 quality, none are sent to Europe, those exported being from the following 

 species. 



2. C. canina, Miquel. — Stem flexible, rooting, climbing. Leaves ovate, or ovate- 

 oblong, sometimes obliquely cordate at base, lower with about 5 nerves ; upper 7-nerved 

 and regularly cordate, all downy beneath, especially when young. Peduncles about as 

 long as the petioles. Fruit red, oval, stalked. 



Blume, Act. Bat. xi. 214, f. 26; Miquel, Syst. Piper.; P. caninum; 

 Rumphius, Amboin., v. t. 28, f. 2 ; Nees, Plant. Med. t. 22, f. 1 ; Roxburgh, 

 Fl. Ind. i. 161 ; Lindley, Fl. Med. 314. 



A native of Java, Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, &c. Blume says that the 

 Cubebs of commerce are chiefly furnished by this species, which has a 

 smaller and shorter-stalked berry than that of C. officinalis, having a distinct 

 anise flavour and is less pungent, but Dr. Lindley observes that he cannot per- 

 ceive any difference in the taste of the dried fruit of the former, and the cubebs 

 of the shops. 



Miquel is of opinion that the figures 2, 4, 5, of the 22d plate, in Nees, re- 

 present another species, which he calls O. costulata. Cubebs are also fur- 

 nished by C. borboniensis, of the Isle of Bourbon, and which Fee referred to 

 P. caudatum, but which is a Brazil species. The Cubebs from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, according to Miquel, are from C. capensis, and those from 

 Guinea from C. clusii; this latter is probably Piper afzelii, which is stated 

 by Smith in Rees' Cyclopaedia, and by Nees and others, to furnish Guinea 

 Cubebs, and which Lindley says is very different from the above, and the 

 quality of whose fruit is still to be ascertained. Miquel, in addition, believes 

 that the Cubebs of commerce are also in part from C. sumatrana, C. nessii, 

 and C. wallichii. 



The Cubebs of the shops somewhat resemble Black Pepper, but are lighter 

 coloured, and are all furnished with a short stalk. The sarcocarp is thinner, 

 the shell hard, and the seed spherical, white and oleaginous. The taste is 

 acrid, peppery and camphoraceous ; the odour is peculiar, aromatic, and 

 rather agreeable. They contain Volatile Oil, Resin, Extractive, and a pecu- 

 liar neutral principle called Cubebin. Their properties depend principally on 

 the oil, which is transparent, light-coloured, and with the smell and taste of 

 the berries. 



Cubebs do not appear to have been known to the Greeks, and Royle is of 

 opinion that the Arabs became acquainted with them through the Hindoos. 

 Pereira shows that they were used in England in 1305, where probably they 

 became known on the return of the Crusaders from Syria. 



Medical Uses. — Cubebs are stimulant, and are employed as carminatives 

 and stomachics in their native countries. From their exercising a special 

 action on the genito-urinary organs, they have been used as diuretics, and some- 



