Title
Cubeb Berry (Ground)
Image
Description
A preserved brown glass bottle of ground cubeb berry (Piper cubeba), once a common botanical remedy in early 20th-century American pharmacies. This particular specimen comes from Rothrock Pharmacy in Mt. Vernon, Indiana and still contains its original aromatic contents.
Details
Label Text: Dr. — Cubeb Berry (Ground)
Pharmacy: Rothrock Pharmacy, 231 Main Street, Mt. Vernon, Indiana
Contents: Ground Piper cubeba (dried unripe berries)
Bottle Material: Brown glass with threaded metal cap
Estimated Era: 1930s–1950s
Condition: Label intact with mild fading; contents partially preserved
Condition
This jar represents a typical stock bottle from a working pharmacy dispensary, not a consumer package. Its survival with contents intact offers a rare tactile connection to pre-antibiotic American pharmacy practice. Rothrock Pharmacy operated as a local mainstay in southern Indiana beginning in 1920, likely compounding remedies on-site using jars just like this.
Gallery
Historical context
Cubeb was historically used for:
Urinary tract infections and gonorrhea (as an antiseptic diuretic)
Chronic bronchitis and asthma (often smoked in cubeb cigarettes)
Digestive complaints, flatulence, and as a stimulant or aphrodisiac
Cubeb berries were included in the U.S. Pharmacopeia and often compounded in powders, elixirs, or capsules by local pharmacists. Over time, it was replaced by more targeted pharmaceuticals.
Curious Facts, Ephemera, and Trivia
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Cubeb was once smoked in over-the-counter herbal cigarettes marketed for asthma and throat irritation
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Its pungent, peppery profile made it popular in early gins and perfumes
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In some traditions, cubeb was included in folk medicine preparations as a sexual stimulant
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Its use and decline parallels many botanicals featured in our
Pharmaceuticals collection
Why it is in the Cabinet
This bottle earns its place in the Cabinet as a pristine example of everyday, functional pharmacy history. While not flashy or rare, it represents the type of plant-based remedy a rural pharmacist would have regularly used for real patients, decades before antibiotics took over.
It’s also a tangible reminder that cubeb was once part of serious medical treatment, not just a spice or folk remedy. That this bottle survives — label intact, contents preserved — makes it a valuable specimen of botanical pharmacology in action.
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