(Black Pepper.)

Origin. - The dried unripe fruit of Piper nigrum L., a knotted, pointed-branched, aromatic, climbing shrub, indigenous in India, and cultivated in many of the East Indian and Philippine and some of the West Indian islands.

Constituents. - Its important constituents are a volatile oil (1 to 2 per cent.); a neutral principle, piperin (6 to 8 per cent.); and a pungent, soft, dark-green resin, to which the acrid taste and medicinal properties of pepper are due.

Dose. - 5-20 grains (0.3-I.2 Gm.) [7 1/2 grains (0.5 Gm.), U. S. P.].

Official Preparations

Oleoresina Piperis - Oleoresmae PIperis - Oleoresin of Pepper. - Dose, 1/4-1 grain (0.015-0.06 Gm.) [1/2 grain (0.03 Gm.), U. S. P.].

Piperinum - Piperini - Piperin. - Origin. - A feebly basic substance (CH1O2.-C6H3, CH:CH.CH: CH.CON.C5H10) obtained from pepper, as well as from other plants of the natural order Piperacea.

Description and Properties. - Colorless or pale-yellowish, shining, prismatic crystals, odorless, and almost tasteless when first taken into the mouth, but after a while producing a sharp, biting sensation. Permanent in the air; almost insoluble in water, but soluble in 15 parts of alcohol and in 1 part of boiling alcohol.

Dose. - 1-10 grains (0.03-0.6 Gm.) [3 grains (0.2 Gm.), U. S. P.].