Piper Cubeba, Linne filius.

(Cubeba Cubeba, (Linne filius) Lyons.)

The dried, full-grown, unripe fruits, with not more than 5 p. c. of stems, foreign matter.

Habitat. Java, Sumatra, Borneo; cultivated in two former islands, and in \Y. Indies, Ceylon.

Syn. Cubeb., Cubebs, Tailed Cubebs, Cubeb-, Java-, or Tailed-Pepper; Br. Cubebae Fructus (Baccae), Piper Caudatum; Fr. Cubebe, Poivre a Queue; Ger. Cubebae, Kubeben.

Pi'per. L. see etymology, page 139, of Piperaceae.

Cu-be'ba. L. fr. Gr.

of Actuanus; name used since the 10th century; Pers. kababa, their native name of the plant.

Plant. - Climbing woody perennial; stem jointed, flexuous, 6 M. (20°) high; leaves 15 Cm.' ((6') long, lanceolate, leathery, shining,

Fig. 77. - Piper Cubeba.

nerved, petiolate; flowers dioecious, spikes, 2.5-5 Cm. (1-2') long. Fruit, upper portion glob alar, 3-6 Mm. (1/8-1/4') broad, with a straight, slender, stem-like portion (stipe, thecaphore - not a true pedicel, but stigma remnant), 5-7 Mm. (1/5-1/4') long; pericarp, with immature seed attached at its base, grayish-black, coarsely reticulate, .3 Mm.

(1/75') thick, easily cut, l-locular, 1-seeded; odor aromatic, characteristic; taste strongly aromatic, pungent. Powder, brownish; microscopically - starch-bearing cells of perisperm and fragments of pericarp with stone cells, many starch grains, .002-.012, Mm. (1/12500-1/2000') broad, and stone cells, secretion cells with yellowish, oily content, reddish with sulphuric acid; few fragments of stalk, tracheae, sclerenchy-inatous fibres; non-volatile extractive, soluble in ether, 10 p. c. Solvents: ether; alcohol. Dose, gr. 15-00 (1-4 Gm.).

Adulterations. - Fruit: Rachis or stalks (inodorous, increasing fibro-vascular tissue and ash), partially grown fruit, siftings (darker and without starch masses), black pepper and other piperaceous fruits (P. cani'num, P. cras'sipes, P. Lo'wong, P. mollis'simum, P. ribes-oi'des, P. Clu'sii, Sit'sea extra'ta, etc.), all distinguished by characteristic shape, odor, and taste. Rhamnus cathartica fruit (pedicellate and contains 4 seeds), allspice (much larger, 2-seeded, no pedicel). Juniper us communis fruit (much larger, different taste); Powder: Deteriorates unless kept in tight containers, hence best to powder only when needed, sometimes mixed with powdered allspice, flour, or starch.

Commercial. - Plant grows extensively in coffee plantations or on grounds reserved for the purpose, being supported usually on shade trees; fruit is gathered when full-grown, but before ripe - still of a green color - dried carefully in the sun, and exported from Java to Singapore, whence it enters market.

Constituents. - Volatile oil 5-15 p. c, Resin 2.5-3.5 p. c, Cubebin .4-3 p. c, Cubebic acid 1-3.5 p. c, fixed oil 1 p. c, gum 8 p. c, starch, ash 5-8 p. c. (cubeb stalks 10 p. c).

Oleum Cubebae. Oil of Cubeb, official. - (Syn., 01. Cubeb., Cubeb Oil, Oleum Cubebarum, Oil of Cubebs; Fr. Essence de Cubebe; Ger. Kubebenol.) This volatile oil, distilled with water or steam from the unripe fruit, is a colorless, pale green, yellowish-green liquid, characteristic odor and taste of cubeb, sp. gr. 0.915, laevorotatory, soluble in equal volume of alcohol, neutral reaction; contains a little dipentene, C10H16, but mostly sesquiterpene, cadi-nene, C15H24. If old, or distilled from old fruit, has additionally an inodorous stear-optene, cubeb camphor, C15H24.H2O, which soon deposits. Should be kept cool, dark, in well-stoppered, amber-colored bottles. Dose, v-20 (.3-1.3 Ml. (Cc.)).

Resin. - Extracted by ether, which also takes up volatile oil, fixed oil, cubebin, chlorophyll, and wax; evaporate off volatile oil, when cold cubebin and wax deposit; decant from these, separate fat and have left the resin, which is amorphous, soluble in alkalies, alcohol, not precipitated by alcoholic solution of lead acetate.

Fig. 78. - Cubeb: fruit, natural size, and magnified.

Cubebin, C10H10O3. - This constitutes the precipitate from oleoresin upon standing; it is white, crystalline, inodorous, inert; alcoholic solution bitter.

Cubebic Acid, C14H16O4. - Brownish, resin-like mass, soluble in alkalies, alcohol, ether, chloroform, precipitated by lead acetate; diuretic. Dose, gr. 5-10 (.3-.6 Gm.). Last three are red with sulphuric acid.

Preparations. - 1. Oleoresina Cubebae. Oleoresin of Cubeb. (Syn., Oleores. Cubeb., Extractum Cubebae AEthereum; Fr. Oleoresine de Cubebe; Ger. Extractum Cubebarum (AEtherisches), Kubebenextrakt.)

Manufacture: Percolate slowly, in a covered glass percolator, 100 Gm. with alcohol, added in successive portions, until exhausted, reclaim most of the alcohol on water-bath, transfer residue to a dish, allow remaining alcohol to evaporate spontaneously in a warm place, stirring frequently; after standing some time it deposits a waxy, crystalline precipitate, which should be rejected, and only the liquid portion dispensed (used), containing fixed oil, volatile oil, resin, chlorophyll; yield 18-25 p. c. Should be kept in well-stoppered bottles. Dose, v-30 (.3-2 Ml. (Cc.)).

Prep.: 1. Trochisci Cubebae. Troches of Cubeb. (Syn., Troch.

Cubeb.; Fr. Pastilles de Cubebe; Ger. Kubebenpastillen.) Manufacture: Rub together until thoroughly mixed extract of glycyrrhiza 25 Gm., acacia 12 Gm., add oleoresin of cubeb 2 Gm., oil of sassafras 1 Ml. (Cc.), incorporate, form mass with syrup of tolu q. s., divide into 100 troches. Dose, 1-5 troches.

Unoff. Preps.: Extract, dose, gr. 2-10 (.13-.6 Gm.). Fluidextract (alcohol), dose, xv-60 (1-4 Ml. (Cc.)). Infusion, 5 p. c, dose, ℥j-2 (30-60 Ml. (Cc.)). Tincture, 20 p. c. (alcohol), dose, 3ss-2 (2-8 Ml. (Cc.)).

Properties. - Diuretic (resin + cubebic acid), stimulant, carminative, expectorant, disinfectant, local irritant (volatile oil), may cause headache, giddiness, nausea, purging, paralysis; it is eliminated by bronchial mucous membrane, skin, and kidneys, all being stimulated and the increased secretions disinfected; imparts to urine a peculiar odor.

Uses. - Gonorrhoea, urethritis, vesical irritability, cystitis, abscess of prostate gland, piles, chronic bronchitis, catarrh. Arabians used it similarly to black pepper, and were the first to introduce it into Europe.

Allied Plants:

1. Piper Lo'wong (Cubeba Lowong) and P. ribesoi'des (C. Wal-lich'ii), fruit of both much like the official.

2. P. cani'num (C. canina), fruit smaller than official, contracted below into a stalk half the length of the globular portion, and P. cras'sipes (C. crassipes), fruit larger than the official.