Flora Medica

CHLORAHTHACE.E.633 a. C. brachystachys Blume fl. jav. ic. Ascarina serrataBlume enum. i. 80. High woods on the coast of Java.An upright bush about 3 feet high, quite smooth in all its parts.Leaves obovate-lanceolate, tapering very much into the petiole, sharplyserrate. Spikes short, terminal, branched. Bracts glandular. Anthersimple, 2-celled, growing from the side of the ovary.Properties likethose of the last species.PIPERACE.E.Nat. syst.ed. 2. p. 185.PIPER.Stamens varying in number between 1 and 10. Stigma3-lobed. Fruit baccate.634. P. nigrum Linn. sp. pi. 40. Bot. mag.t. 3139. Neesand Eberm. handb. i. 98. plant, med. 21. P. aromaticum Poir.enc. meth. suppl. v. 458. Fee cours. ii. 618. (Rheede hort. mal.vii. t. 12. Marsderis hist, of Sumatra 105.) nrEp Dioscor.Cultivated in various parts of India and its islands; also in theWest Indies. (Black Pepper.)Stem trailing or climbing, shrubby, flexuose, and dichotomouslybranched, jointed, swelling at the joints, and often throwing outradicles there which adhere to bodies like the roots of Ivy, or becomeroots striking into the ground. Leaves from 4 to 6 incheslong, alternate, distichous, broadly ovate, acuminated, of a full greenand glossy colour, paler beneath, 5 to 7-nerved, the nerves connectedby lesser transverse ones or veins, and prominent beneath. Petiolesrounded, from half an inch to nearly 1 inch long. Spikes opposite theleaves, chiefly near the upper ends of the branches, stalked, from 3 to 6inches long, slender, drooping, apparently some male, others female,while sometimes the flowers are furnished with both stamens and pistil ;stamens 3. Fruit ripening irregularly all the year round, sessile, thesize of a pea, at first green, then red, afterwards black, covered bypulp. The hot acrid black pepper of the shops consists of the berriesdried with the pulp adhering ;the white pepper is the same thing onlythe pulp is washed off before the fruit is dried. It is principally usedas a condiment to stimulate the stomach and promote digestion. As amedicine it is employed in the form of ointment mixed with lard,against taenia capitisin affections of the mouth and throat ;requiring apowerful acrid such as relaxed uvula, or paralysis of the tongue itmaybe employed as a masticatory. In spirit and water it is a popularremedy for preventing the return of a paroxysm of intermitting fever.Pepper is the active ingredient in a quack medicine called Ward'spaste, employed in cases of fistula, piles and ulcers about the rectum.A crystalline substance called Piperin, obtained from this spice, has310