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PHARMACOGNOSY. 
Archipelago, the principal points of export being 
Batavia and Singapore. 
Description. — Drupe dry, superior, nearly globu- 
lar, 4 to 6 mm. in diameter, epicarp very thin, easily 
separable from the sarcocarp ; externally blackish 
brown, coarsely reticulate, apex with remains of sessile 
stigma, base with scar of pedicel, sarcocarp and endo- 
carp dark brown and with numerous longitudinal 
veins; seed orthotropous, broadly ovoid, 4 to 5 mm. in 
diameter, externally reddish brown, micropylar end 
pointed, chalazal end marked by a small scar ; inter- 
nally yellowish green, embryo small, frequently more 
or less shriveled and situated near the end of the fruit 
and in the center of the reserve layer ; odor aromatic ; 
taste aromatic and pungent. 
Constituents. — Volatile oil 1 to 2 per cent.; a neu- 
tral pi’inciple piperin 5 to 8 per cent.; piperidine a col- 
orless liquid alkaloid, about 05 percent.; a pungent 
resin chavicin; starch; tannin; proteids about 10 per 
cent. ; ash about 5 per cent. 
Allied Products. — When the ripe fruits of Piper 
nigrum are deprived of the outer part of the pericarp 
they constitute the so-called “ wdiite pepper,” which 
differs from the official in being nearly smooth, light 
yellow and less aromatic and pungent. 
Piper officinarum, a shrub indigenous to the Malay 
Archipelago, yields the so called “ long pepper,” which 
consists of the entire spikes of the immature fruit; the 
spikes are cylindrical, from 2 5 to 4 cm. long, about 
5 mm. thick, of a grayish-black color, and the drupes 
are less aromatic and pungent than the official pepper. 
PIMENTA (Allspice). 
The fruit of Pimenta officinalis (Fam. Myrtaceae), a 
tree indigenous to the West Indies, Mexico, Central 
