FRUITS. 
193 
dried in the sun, the commercial supplies being shipped 
from Batavia and Singapore. 
Description. — Drupe dry, superior, globular, 4 to 
6 mm. in diameter, with a straight slender peduncle 
5 to 7 mm. long; externally dark brown, coarsely 
reticulate, apex with remains of three to four stigmas; 
pericarp about 0 3 mm. thick ; internally light brown, 
smooth, oily, one-celled, one-seeded ; seed orthotro- 
pous, broadly ovoid, 4 to 5 mm. in diameter, reddish 
brown, straight, mostly smooth on one side where it 
lies against the pericarp, c.halazal end with a broad 
scar, micropyle with a slight depression, a small em- 
bryo at the upper end of the reserve layer ; odor dis- 
tinct; taste aromatic and pungent. 
Constituents. — Volatile oil 10 to 15 per cent. ; sev- 
eral resins amounting to about 3 per cent., one of which 
is acrid and one a so-called indifferent resin ; cubebic 
acid 1 to 3 per cent., this being colored reddish with 
sulphuric acid; starch, and about 6 per cent, of ash. 
Adulterants. — The fruits of other species of Piper 
sometimes find their way into market; these are gray- 
ish in color, or somewhat bitter, and do not give a wine- 
colored reaction with sulphuric acid. Not infrequently 
a considerable amount of the rachis is present and this 
contains a relatively small amount of the active prin- 
ciples. 
PIPE It (Black Pepper). 
The fruit of Piper nigrum (Fam. Piperaceie), a woody, 
perennial climber indigenous to Southern India and 
cultivated in the East Indies, West Indies and other 
tropical countries. The fruit is gathered when full 
grown, removed from the rachis and dried in the sun. 
The commercial supplies are obtained from plants culti- 
vated in Java, Sumatra and other islands of the Malay 
