AnJsJep?r;i!9-2arm-}  Spurious  Cubebs.  497 
tion  concerning  the  plants  grown  in  it,  I  find  on  p.  417,  that  the 
Soendanese  distinguish  three  varieties  of  cubebs,  viz ;  "  Rinoe 
tjaroeloek,"  "  Rinoe  katjentjan,"  and  "  Rinoe  badak,"  which  are  all 
prese?il  in  plantations.  It  further  appears,  from  statements  on  the 
same  page,  that  the  plant  cultivated  as  cubebs  in  the  Java  Botanic 
Gardens  up  to  1886  was  not  the  true  plant,  and  that  the  genuine 
species  was  subsequently  procured  and  on  being  planted  out  pro- 
duced flowers  and  fruit.  The  occurrence  of  two  species  in  the 
specimens  kindly  presented  by  Dr.  Treub  is  probably  thus  ex- 
plained. 
The  specimen  of  cubebs  which  was  presented  by  Mr.  L.  Wray 
does  not,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  possess  any  mace-like  odor ;  but, 
as  he  says,  it  gives  a  brownish  color  with  sulphuric  acid.  By  means 
of  the  herbarium  specimen  he  has  kindly  sent,  I  have  been  able  to 
identify  the  plant  as  Piper  ribesioides,  Wall.  It  agrees  perfectly 
with  specimens  of  this  plant  in  the  Natural  History  Museum  at 
South  Kensington  and  at  Kew. 
Our  present  knowledge  of  cubebs  and  the  substitutes  for  it  met 
with  in  commerce  may  be  summarized  as  follows  : 
The  cubeb  plants  cultivated  in  Java  are  of  three  kinds.  These 
are  in  all  probability  Piper  Cubeb  a,  L.f.,  Piper  crassipes,  Korth.,  and 
a  third  variety,  with  fruits  having  a  macy  odor. 
Piper  crassipes  may  be  distinguished  by  its  larger  size,  long, 
slender,  flattened  stalk,  and  its  bitter  taste.  It  does  not  give  a 
crimson  color  with  sulphuric  acid. 
The  cubeb  with  a  macy  odor  resembles  the  true  cubeb  in  shape 
and  size,  but  is  grayer,  more  wrinkled,  and  does  not  give  a  crimson 
color  with  concentrated  sulphuric  acid. 
The  fruits  of  Piper  Lowong,  Bl.  (Cubeba  Lezuong,  Miq.)  are  stated 
by  Fluckiger  and  Hanbury  to  be  extremely  cubeb-like  ("  Pharmaco- 
graphia,"  2d  ed.,  p.  58);  and  as  this  species  is  a  native  of  Java,  it 
is  quite  possible  that  it  may  yield  the  cubebs  with  a  macy  odor.  I 
have  not,  however,  been  able  to  find  in  either  of  our  national  herbaria 
a  specimen  of  this  species  in  mature  fruit. 
The  fruit  of  Piper  ribesioides  is  collected  in  the  Selama  district  of 
Eerak  in  small  quantity,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  enters  into 
Engl.sh  commerce. 
In  the  report  of  the  Buitenzorg  Botanic  Gardens  above  quoted,  it 
is  stated  that  the  cubeb  plant  is  more  easily  propagated  by  layers 
