THE CUBEB PEPPER.

755

or

,J ' Char.—S tem shrubby, terete, climbing. Leaves petiolate, oblongn ° Va te-oblong, acuminate, rounded or oblique cordate at the base,b e ,d> coriaceous, smooth. Peduncles almost equal to the petiole.^ fles vvith elongated peduncles (Blume, Enum. Ft. Java :, p. 70).

a^ 1, ®lume says that the cubebs of the shops are the fruit of P. caninum, which hasl hati l) er an d shorter-stalked fruit, having a distinct anise flavour, and less pungencyp er . e fruit of P. Cubeba; but Dr. Lindley {flora Medica ) observes, that he cannotc ubel) Ve au 7 difference in the flavour of the dried fruit of P. Cubeba and of ther, Ul>) Ssold in the London shops. P. Cubeba is readily distinguishable from P. cani-fr„ ni “7 the leaves being coriaceous, smooth, and shining, with the veins proceeding

H.

e side of the midrib, not from its base.

j . 111 -—Java and the Prince of Wales’s Island .fCRiPxioN.—The dried unripe fruit of this plant constitutes theus, ox piper caudatum, of the shops.

li g ] 1 a Ppearance, cubebs resemble black pepper, except that they arelop ter c °loured, and are each furnished with a stalk two or three linesL "‘ 1 from which circumstance they have received their name

The cortical portion of cubebs (that which constituted the

c & and

lent "i P 0l Jl° n °f the fruit) appears to have been thinner and less succu-"hit; i n * n hlack pepper. Within, it is a hard spherical seed, which is

r ac an d oily. The taste of cubebs is acrid, peppery, and campho-^° Us ; the odour is peculiar and aromatic.

'p r(| 0 ' ,I ' < )srn° N .—Three analyses of cubebs have been made: one bylip Ul,aSf loi-f, in 1811 (Schwartz, Pharm. Tabell .); a second by Vauque-^onk* {Ann. Phil., 2nd Series, vol. iii. p. 202); and a third byheiin, in 1835 ( Journ. de Pharm. xx. 403).

2, n^hle oil, nearly solid.

3, ^ esi11 like that of copaiva.

4. ^ Il0t her coloured resin.

5. j. Co ‘°ured gummy matter.

Vauquelin.

^'tractive.all »e matter.

1 .

Cubebs.

Monheim.

1. Green volatile oil . 2’5

2. Yellow volatile oil. l'O

3. Cubebin . 4o

4. Balsamic resin . P5

5. Wax . 3‘0

6. Chloride of sodium. 1-0

7. Extractive . 6’0

8. Lignin . 65'0

Loss .. 15 - 5

Cubebs. lOO’O

J0’5 ^ SSe ntial Oil of Cubebs (Oleum cubebce, E.)—By distillation, cubebs yield abouta transparent, slightly-coloured, volatile oil, which is lighter than water, andn cu heb odour, and a hot, aromatic, bitter taste.

Ole j, ■ ' ee ping, it sometimes deposits crystals ( Cubeb stearoptene or Cubeb camphor), theof which is the rhombic octahedron. Their odour is that of cubebs ;4 t l 33 o S i e > at first, that of cubebs with camphor, afterwards cooling. They are fusible. 2. n .■ soluble in alcohol, ether, and oils, but are insoluble in water.

‘'Mil S * n . of Cubebs. —Vauquelin has described two resins of cubebs: one is green,br 0 (y acr ‘fi> and analogous, both in odour and taste, to balsam of copaiva ; the other, 3, p ri > solid, acrid, and insoluble in ether.

\? s ho U ' J Ain (Piperin ).—From cubebs is obtained a principle to which the term cubebinip 11 a PPlied. It is very analogous to, if not identical with, piperin. Cassola, a^ter lt ? n chemist (Joam. de Chim. Mid. t. x. p. 685), says it is distinguished from theHi^h f rill ciple by the fine crimson colour which it produces with sulphuric acid, andunaltered for twenty or twenty-four hours : moreover, Cubebin is not

f . m {op. cit.) however declares Cubebin to be identical with piperin, and that it‘bq .. lrie d with a soft acrid resin. In this state it is soluble in ether, alcohol, the^id. 01 ' s > and acetic acid ; but is insoluble in oil of turpentine and dilute sulphuric

f* fuses

at 68» F.