Cubeb

CUBEB, Cubebae (Fructus Cubebae - a name adopted by the German Pharmacopoeia VI, Baccæ Cube-barum, Piper caudatum), the dried, not yet fully ripe fruit of a large shrub, Piper Cubeba L., Cubeba officinalis M. (family Piperaceae), which grows on the islands of Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and also in Africa (Sierra Leone). In medicine, unripe fruit is used, growing in clusters (spadices), about 5 mm in diameter for each little fruit; in dried form, the spherical little fruits look like pepper, grayish-brown to black in color, strongly shriveled, as if covered with a net, with folds over the entire surface and a rosette-like structure at the top; at the bottom, there is a pointed, stalk-like extension of the fruit 6-8 mm long and 1 mm wide (false pedicel); inside there is only a single seed. The taste is aromatic, pungent-bitter, but not burning, the odor characteristic, balsamic. Cubeb powder is yellow-brown or brown; under the microscope, large stone cells can be seen (characteristic) with a length of 35-80 µ; upon adding powder or a piece of the fruit to dilute sulfuric acid (4:1), the latter turns a cherry-red color. Composition: 10-18% essential oil Ol. Cub. aeth., consisting mainly of dipentene, cadinene, and stereopten-cubeb camphor (an alcohol of the sesquiterpene series, C₁₅H₂₅OH); cubebin, up to 2.5% (C₂₀H₂₀O₆), a crystalline substance; it is responsible for the red coloration with sulfuric acid; cubeb acid, up to 1.7%, which also gives a red coloration with sulfuric acid; ash up to 8%. Cubeb is adulterated with the fruits of a vast number of similar plants, which, however, are almost all recognized by the absence of a red color with sulfuric acid. It should be stored in well-closed glass or metal containers in an unground form, since the powder easily undergoes resinification. In the Middle Ages, cubeb was used predominantly as a spice; at present, it has exclusively medical significance—in the treatment of gonorrhea. It is used internally in the form of powder in amounts of 1.0-5.0 three times a day in cachets, in the form of pills, tablets, capsules, etc., in the same cases as copaiba balsam, often together with it. It acts in a disinfecting manner on the urinary tract due to the presence in cubeb of essential oil and (probably) resin acids, which are excreted through the kidneys in the form of paired compounds with glucuronic acid and make the urine aseptic. It is believed that cubeb irritates the gastrointestinal tract to a lesser extent than copaiba balsam or sandalwood oil. In addition to cubeb, the following are also used: essential oil, Ol. Cubebarum, internally at 5-15 drops several times a day in boluses, capsules, and emulsion; extracts: Extr. Cubeb. aether., fluidum, spirituosum. All three preparations at 0.3-1.0 several times a day in capsules, pills, boluses; Tinct. Cubebae - 1.0-3.0 as a carminative (not recommended for gonorrhea, as it is weaker than the previous preparations). In small doses (up to 1.0), cubeb acts favorably on taste and digestion; in moderate doses (up to 5.0), it causes nausea, abdominal pain, increased urination; in large doses (up to 10.0)—gastrointestinal catarrh, vomiting, diarrhea, etc., sometimes with the appearance of a mild erythematous rash (some authors call all these phenomena "cubebism").

A. Ginzberg.