pipe] 



Htfyz Erratfurg of 33ntanj), 



894 



it is fully ripe, and spread on mats in the 

 sun, when it loses its red colour and be- 

 comes black and shrivelled, as we see it in 

 the peppercorns of the shops : this is Black 

 Pepper. White Pepper is the same fruit, 

 freed from its outer skin by maceration in 

 water and subsequent rubbing ; occasion- 

 ally it is rendered of a yet paler colour by 

 being submitted to the action of chlorine. 

 Sir John Mandeville, who travelled in 

 the years 1322 to 1356, has given us an ac- 

 count of the Pepper, which, with some ex- 

 ceptions, applies as well now as then. ' The 

 Peper growethe,' he writes, ' in manner as 

 doth a wylde vine, that is planted fast by 

 the trees of the wodee for to susteynen it 

 by, as doth the vyne.and the fruyt thereof 

 hangethe in manere as Reysinges : and 

 the tree is so thikke charged, that it 

 semethe that it wolde breke : and when it 

 is ripe it is all grene, as it were ivy berryes ; 

 and then men kytten hem as men doe the 

 vynes and than thei putten it upon an 

 owven.and there it waxeth blak and crisp.' 



Piper nigrum. 



cayenne. Pepper-dust, known in the trade 

 as P. D. or H. P. D. (hot pepper-dust), con- 

 sists of the sweepings of the floors of the 

 warehouses wherein pepper is stored, or 

 of the siftings of the pepper. It is used to 

 mix with genuine ground pepper, also for 

 pickling. The root of the Pepper-plant is 

 employed by the natives of India as atonic 

 stimulant and cordial. 



P. trioicum, a nearly allied species to P. 

 nigrim, yields also somelittleof thePepper 

 of commerce. Dr. Roxburgh, who first cul- 

 tivated this plant, observed that the pepper 

 of the female vines did not ripen properly, 

 but dropped when green, and was deficient 

 in pungency; but the pepper of those plants 

 which had hermaphrodite and female flow- 

 ers mixed on the same spike was very pun- 

 gent, and reckoned by the merchants as 

 equal to the best Malabar Pepper. 



Long Pepper is the produce of Chavica 

 Ron-burghii. The Betel Pepper-leaf is also 

 the produce of another species of Chavica, 

 C. Betel; while Cubebs, another fruit for- 

 merly referred, like the two last-mentioned, 

 to the genus Piper, is now considered to 

 form a distinct genus, Cubeba. See Cha- 

 vica and Cubeba. [M. T. M.] 



PIPERITOUS. Having a hot biting taste. 



PIPEWORT. Eriocaulon. Pipeworts is 

 the name given by Lindley to the Eriocau- 



PIPI-PODS. The astringent legumes of 

 CcBsalpinia Pipai. 



PIPITZAHUAC. A drastic product of 

 Dumerila Alamanni. 



PIPPERIDGE, or PIPRAGE. Berberis 

 vulgaris. 



PIPPIN, NORMANDY. Sun-dried apples, 

 pressed and stored for winter use. 



PIPPUL, or PEEPUL. An Indian name 

 for Ficus religiosa. 



PIPSISSEWA. Chimapliila umbellata. 



Pepper is imported into this country in 

 enormous quantities, and is used as a con- 

 diment. Medicinally it is employed as an 

 acrid stimulant in cases of weak digestion, 

 and it has also been recommended in cases 

 of ague to ward off the paroxysm, a practice I 

 recommended by Celsus. Pepper is also j 

 sometimes employed externally. Pepper j 

 on chemical analysis is found to contain a 

 hot acrid resin, and a volatile oil, as well \ 

 as a tasteless crystalline substance called I 

 piperin, which has been recommended as I 

 a substitute for quinine. This piperin is 

 | especially contained in some large coloured 

 j cells in the interior of the fruit. Ground 

 Pepper is frequently adulterated, according 

 to Dr. Hassall, with linseed, mustard-seed, 

 wheat-flour, pea-flour, and ground rice : 

 sago has also been mentioned as being 

 employed for this purpose. All such ad- 

 mixtures can be readily detected by the 

 microscope. At one time, when a very 

 heavy duty was levied on this substance, 

 factitious peppercorns were manufactured 

 of oilcake, clay, and a small portion of 



PIPTADENIA. In the character of its 

 flowers this genus of Leguminosce does 

 not differ from Entada, though readily 

 distinguished by its pods, which are sel- 

 dom more than six or nine inches long 

 and not very broad, flat and membranous 

 or somewhat leathery, sometimes contract- 

 ed between the seeds but without parti- 

 tions inside, and ultimately separate into 

 two pieces, which have the seeds attached 

 to them by thread-like funiculi. The genus 

 is entirely confined to tropical South Ame- 

 rica, and contains about thirty species, 

 some trees, and others large sometimes 

 prickly shrubs, with twice-pinnate leaves, 

 and small white or greenish flowers, either 

 in spikes or round heads, growing from 

 the axils. 



P.peregrina is one of the tallest trees of 

 the genus, and has leaves composed of 

 from fifteen to thirty pairs of pinna?, each 

 with from thirty to eighty pairs of minute 

 leaflets ; and rough leathery monilif orm 

 pods about six inches in length. The In- 

 dians of Venezuela and Brazil prepare a 



