This section of the book is from "The Complete Herbalist" by Dr. O. Phelps Brown. Also available from Amazon: The Complete Herbalist: The People Their Own Physicians By The Use Of Nature's Remedies.
MEDICINAL PART. The berries.
Description. -- This is a perennial plant,
with a climbing stem, round branches, about as thick as a goose-quill,
ash-colored, and rooting at the joints. The leaves are from four
to six and a half inches long by one and a half to two inches broad, ovate-oblong,
acuminate, and very smooth. Flowers arranged in spikes at the end
of the branches; fruit, a berry rather longer than that of black pepper.
History. -- Cubeba is a native of Java and
other islands of the Indian Ocean, growing in the forests without cultivation.
The fruit is gathered before fully ripe, and then dried. It affords
a volatile oil, which is much used. Cubeba has a pleasant, aromatic
odor, and a hot, bitter taste. Cubebin is the active principle.
Properties and Uses. -- It is mildly stimulant,
expectorant, stomachic, and carminative. It acts particularly on
mucous tissues, and arrests excessive discharges, especially from the urethra.
It exercises an influence over the urinary apparatus, rendering the urine
of deeper color. It is successfully employed in gonorrhoea, gleet,
leucorrhoea, chronic bladder diseases, bronchial affections, and atony
of the stomach and bowels.
Dose. -- Of the powder, half a drachm to
a drachm; tincture, two fluid drachms; oil, ten to thirty drops.
 
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