By Rein Bos, Herman J. Woerdenbag, Oliver Kayser, Wim J. Quax, Komar Ruslan and Elfami

Abstract: Abstract: The chemical composition of the essential oil of ripe berries (11.8% v/w) and leaves (0.9% v/w) of Piper cubeba L. fils. (Piperaceae) was investigated by GC and GC/MS. Sabinene (9.1%), β-elemene (9.4%), β-caryophyllene (3.1%), epi-cubebol (4.3%), and cubebol (5.6%) were the main components of the berry oil. trans-Sabinene hydrate (8.2%), β-caryophyllene (5.0%), epi-cubebol (4.2%), γ-cadinene (16.6%) and cubebol (4.8%) were the main components of the leaf oil. No large qualitative differences were found in the composition between berry and leaf oil, although the berries contained a considerable amount of constituents in traces (< 0.05%) that were not found in the leaves. The principal difference was of a quantitative nature. Key Word Index: Piper cubeba, Piperaceae, essential oil composition, γ-cadinene.

Introduction
The genus Piper belongs to the Piperaceae, a family with more than 700 species throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Piper cubeba (in Indonesia known as kamukus) is a plant native to Java and Borneo that produces spicy berries (cubeb berries). It is now also cultivated in several other tropical areas, including East Africa. In Indonesia P. cubeba is valued as a medicinal plant (1,2).

Many species of the genus Piper are used in traditional herbal medicine, and have shown antifungal, insecticidal, anthelminthic and antitumor activities. They are also used for the treatment of cough, bronchitis, intestinal diseases and rheumatism (3). A number of polyhydroxy cyclohexanes have been isolated from Piper cubeba and shown to display tumour inhibitory, antileukemic and antibiotic activities (4).

Essential oil investigations of a number of Piper species have been reported, but only one gives a detailed overview of the essential oil of cubeb berries (3,5–8). The aim of the present study was to investigate the oil composition of P. cubeba berries and leaves from Indonesia.