To obtain it perfectly pure, it must be dissolved in alcohol and recrystallized. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: LONG PEPPER (Piper Longum)] CHAPTER VI LONG PEPPER Long pepper is the fruit spike of a wild plant of _Piper longum_ (_Chavica Roxburghii_) and of _Piper_ (_C. officinarum_), there being two species—French, _Poivre longue_; German, _Langer Pfeffer_; Italian, _Pepe lungo_; Spanish, _Pimienta larga_; Javanese, _Chabi-Jawa_; Hindostan, _Pipel_; Cyngalese, _Tipilie, elephant pepper_; Cochin Chinese, _Caylot_. LONG pepper (_Piper officinarum_) is a perennial plant and has oblong leaves attenuated at the base, and is a native of Indian Archipelago, Nepaul, and Java. It is found growing along the streams of the East Indies, Sumatra, Celebes, and Timor, and is also found in Malabar, Ceylon, and East Bengal, and in the Philippines, being indigenous to most of these countries. It is distinguished from the former by having cordate or heart-shaped leaves at the base, which are pinnate and five-veined. In Bengal the plants are raised from suckers and are set five feet apart in rich, high, dry soil. Its stem is smooth with a slender branch and scandent leaves, cordate pointed and nerved, and of a deep-green color. The flowers are diœcious and small, in short, dense, terminal solitary spikes, which are nearly cylindrical and opposite to the leaves. They are very similar to black pepper, with some characteristic differences. Long pepper appears to have been known by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and in the tenth century mention is made of long pepper or _Macro-piper_. The minute baccate fruit, which is closely packed around the central axis, is at first green, becoming red when ripe. The peppers are hottest in their immature state and are then gathered and dried in the sunshine, when they change to a dark gray color. They are imported in the spikes which have the appearance of being limed. They are about one and one-half inches in length by one-fourth inch thick, but vary in size and are indented on the surface. The yield from an acre is three maunds of eighty pounds the first year, twelve the second year, and eighteen the third year, after which the yield diminishes. The roots are finally grubbed up and dried and sold as “_pi pli mul_,” which is a favorite medicine of the Hindoos, who use it for palsy and apoplexy. The infusion of the powdered fruit mixed with a little honey is said to be good in catarrhal affection, when the chest is loaded with phlegm.