CINCHONACEJE. 



All over rough with yellow down. Leaves narrow elliptical, short- 

 stalked, either acute at the point or rounded with a mucro, rather 

 narrowed to the base. Corymbs contracted into a panicle, DC. — 

 Reputed to be, when administered in small doses, a powerful diu- 

 retic, and used both in human and veterinary medicine. Burnett. 



883. P. diuretica Mart. 



are said to have the same proper- 

 ties as the last. 



884. P. strepens Mart. 



885. P. sonans Mart. 



886. P. longifolia HBK. 



CEPILELIS. 



Heads of flowers inclosed in a large 2-8-leaved involucre. 

 Limb of calyx very short, 5-toothed. Corolla funnel-shaped, 

 with 5 small lobes. Anthers inclosed. Stigma bifid, usually 

 exserted. Berry obovate-oblong, crowned with the remains of 

 the calyx, 2-celled, 2-seeded. — Shrubs and herbs, natives of 

 South America. 



887. C. Ipecacuanha Richard, f. bull, de lafac.med. 1818. 

 iv. 98. Martins spec. mat. med. bras. v. 1. 1. DC.prodr. iv. 535. 

 — Callicocca Ipecacuanha. JBroter. in linn, trans, vi. 137. 1. 1 1. 

 — Woods of Brazil. Mountains of New Granada. (Ipecacuanha.) 



Root perennial, simple, or divided into a few diverging branches, 

 seldom more than from 4 to 6 inches long, about as thick as a goose- 

 quill, ringed, when fresh pale brown, when dry umber-coloured, blackish 

 umber-coloured, or greyish brown ; the cortical integument with a 

 reddish resinous glittering fracture, and readily separating from a 

 central woody axis. Stem suffruticose, from 2 to 3 feet long, ascend- 

 ing, often rooting near the ground, smooth and cinereous at the base, 

 downy and green near the apex. Leaves seldom more than 4-6 on a 

 stem, opposite, oblong-obovate, acute, 3-4 inches long, 1-2 broad, 

 roughish with hairs ; petioles short, downy ; stipules erect, appressed, 

 membranous, 4-6-cleft. Peduncles solitary, axillary, downy, erect 

 when in flower, reflexed when in fruit, about 1J inch long. Flowers 

 capitate ; involucre 1-leafed, spreading, deeply 4-6-parted, with obo- 

 vate, acuminate, ciliated segments. Bracts to each flower one, obovate- 

 oblong, acute, downy. Calyx minute, obovate ; with 5 bluntish short 

 teeth. Corolla white, funnel-shaped ; tube cylindrical, downy on the 

 outside and at the orifice ; limb shorter than the tube, with 5 ovate 

 reflexed segments. Stamens 5 ; filaments filiform, white, smooth, 

 anthers linear, longer than the filaments, projecting a little beyond the 

 corolla. Ovary with a fleshy disk at the apex ; style filiform ; stigmas 2, 

 linear. Berry ovate, about the size of a kidney bean, dark violet, 

 crowned by the small calyx, 2-celled, 2-seeded, with a longitudinal 

 fleshy dissepiment. Nucules plano-convex, furrowed on the flat side. 

 • — The well-known emetic root called Ipecacuanha is obtained from 

 this plant. In commerce it is called the cumulated, Brazilian or Lisbon 

 Ipecacuanha, to distinguish it from the roots of other emetic plants also 

 collected in Brazil for officinal use. It is chiefly used as an emetic, 

 sudorific and expectorant. Its powder acts upon the respiratory pas- 

 sages as an irritant, producing spasmodic asthma. In some cases the 

 mere odour of the root seems sufficient to excite difficulty of breathing, 

 with a feeling of suffocation. Pereira. 



442 



