CUBEB

n. Ku2'beab. Ar., kab'abah. Lat, cubeb a [U. S. Ph., Br. Ph.], cubebae [Ger. Ph.]. Fr., cube be [Fr. Cod.]. Ger., Kubebe. It., cube be. Sp., cubeb a. The unripe fruit of Cubeba officinal is [Miquel] (Piper cubeb a [Linnaeus]), consisting, as found in commerce, of the dried globose fruits of the plant, of about the size of a small pea, of a grayish-brown color, and covered with an ashygray bloom. They are strongly wrinkled by the shrinking of the fleshy pericarp, and are furnished with a short stalk. The shell is hard' and smooth, and contains a single seed with a whitish; oily albumen. C's have a strong taste with some bitterne and acridity, and a highly aromatic odor, and chemically consist chiefly of a volatile oil, cubeb in, and cubebic acid (q. v.). Gum, a fatty oil, and malates of magnesium and calcium are also said to have been found in them. C's are generally stimulant, and are much employed in gonorrhoea. They have been given also in leucorrhoea, cystorrhoea, the urethritis of women and female children, absce of the prostate gland, haemorrhoids, chronic bronchial inflammation and diphtheritic affections of the throat. [B. 5. 18 (a, 24).] African c's. 1. Ashantee pepper, Guinea pepper, African black pepper; the fruit of Piper Afzelii. They are smaller than the official c's, and have a taste more like that of black pepper (which they resemble in containing piperine and not cubeb in). 2. The fruit of an African plant of the Xanthoxylacece; said to be simply aromatic E, he; E, ell; G, go; I, die; Is, in; N, in; N. tank: [s. 460]