CUBEBS. 



{Piper cubeba Iv.) 



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

 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 1 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 1 153. 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 Germany. 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 ; 

 1, upper portion of staminate inflores- 

 cence; 2, staminate flower; 3, fruit; 4, 5, 

 6, 7, ovary ; 8, 9, seed. 



Albert Schneider. 



191 



