PIPER CUBEBA. 
311 
in this place : as a remedial agent, it is chiefly employed for making 
cataplasms, and giving form to more active medicines. When 
toasted and infused in water, the liquor forms an excellent drink in 
febrile diseases, and debility of the digestive organs. 
Off. Wheat Flour. Starch.* 
PIPER CUBEBA. 
Cubebs. 
For Class, Order ^ Nat. Ord. and Gen. Char, 
See Piper Nigrum. 
Spec. Char. »S';em jointed, flexuous. ieave* oblong, entire, 
petioled. 
This species of Piper is a native of Java, where it is called Cumac ; 
it grows in great luxuriance in the woods near Tuntang : it is also a 
native of Batavia, Guinea, and the Isle of France. It is a smooth 
shrub. In the younger trees the branches are long, creeping, and 
rooting : in the older they are flexuose and tetragonous ; the leaves 
are from an inch to an inch and a half in length, mostly oblong or 
cordate, entire and supported on channelled footstalks, half an inch 
ia length ; the flowers are produced in solitary spikes ; the fruit 
is a berry, growing in clusters on short peduncles, and resembles 
black pepper in size. Cubebs are exported from Java to all parts 
of Europe, and come to this country packed in cases. 
Sensible and Chemical Properties, &c. Cubebs have 
a strong aromatic odour, and a hot, pungent, spicy taste ; when 
chewed they heat the mouth, but leave a cool sensation on the pa- 
late. According to the analysis of Vauquelin, cubebs contain a 
thick volatile oil of a reddish colour, a resin, resembling that of 
copaiva, a coloured resin in small quantity, extractive, and some 
* For the chemical properties and manufacture of starch, we must refer oar readers 
4o th« London Dispensatory, pp. 598 and 599. 
