Cubeb
Tailed pepper; piper caudatum
- Known today as
- Piper cubeba, a Javanese pepper whose berries keep a little stalk, like a tail.
- Kind
- Plant
- Constituents
- cubebin, sabinene, cubebol, and 1 more
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Cubeb: what was it used for?
In Arab and medieval medicine, a warming spice for the stomach and the voice; in the nineteenth century, for gonorrhoea and, smoked in cigarettes, for asthma.
Cubeb: what does modern science say?
No proven use; a spice again in some cooking.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- The oil is excreted by the kidney and the lungs, where it is mildly antiseptic, which is why it was given for gonorrhoea and bronchitis before antibiotics; the effect on the gonococcus was slight.
- Toxic dose
- Large doses irritate the urinary tract; otherwise safe.
- Standing
- Dropped from the pharmacopoeias in the twentieth century; cubebin is studied in the laboratory for anti-inflammatory and antiparasitic actions.
- Parreira, R. L. T., et al. (2019). “Evaluation of lignans from Piper cubeba against Schistosoma mansoni adult worms.” Chemistry and Biodiversity 16. Verified against its record · doi:10.1002/cbdv.201800305
- Wichtl, M. (2004). Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd ed., “Cubebae fructus.” Standard reference work
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Cubeb: what lore surrounds it?
Cubeb cigarettes were sold for catarrh and asthma into the twentieth century.
In Their Own Words
The 1911 Britannica says cubebs are supposed to have been brought into medicine by the Arabian physicians of the Middle Ages, and were formerly candied and eaten whole or ground as a seasoning for meat.
“The introduction of the drug into medicine is supposed to have been due to the Arabian physicians in the middle ages. Cubebs were formerly candied and eaten whole, or used ground as a seasoning for meat.”
Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition: Cubebs, “Cubebs”, vol. 7. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, as transcribed on Wikisource. The text, read in full
Culpeper calls cubebs hot and dry in the third degree, expelling wind and cleansing the stomach of tough humours.
“…are hot and dry in the third degree, they expel wind, and cleanse the stomach of tough and viscous humours”
Nicholas Culpeper, M.D., The Complete Herbal ... to which are now first annexed, the English Physician Enlarged, and Key to Physic, Simples: Fruits and their Buds. A new edition. London: Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row, MDCCCL (Project Gutenberg eBook #49513). The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Sources
- Pomet, P. (1694). Histoire générale des drogues (English, A Compleat History of Druggs, 1712). Read in part · the text read
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Cubebs.” Book, not indexed
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 read in part, 1 verified against its record, 1 standard reference work, 1 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 30, 2026
- Chicago
“Cubeb.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 30, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cubeb.
- MLA
“Cubeb.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 30 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cubeb. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Cubeb. (2026, September 30). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cubeb
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See Also
Sharing sabinene, piperine
Juniperus communis · Juniperus sabina · Diatrion piperion · Piper nigrum · Piper longum
Drawing on the same sources: Pomet, Grieve, Wichtl
Earthworm · Crabs’ eyes · Gamboge · Cumin · Compound fumitory · Dandelion · Ground ivy · Bistort · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Crucifix (The image of Christ on the Cross) · Cuttlefish bone (washed up on beaches) · Crow’s gall (The bile of a crow) · Cyclamen, greater (Cyclamen purpurascens or C) · Cramp rings (made from gold and silver offered at the cross) · Cyclosporin fungus (A soil fungus)
Historical description, not medical advice.