PAEEIRA BRAVA 27 



drug, A species of Cissampelos called by the Portuguese in Brazil 

 Caapeha, Cipo de Cobras or Herva de Hossa SenJiora described by Piso 

 in 1648/ afterwards became associated with Pareira Brava on account 

 of similarity of properties. 



as 



u-atm wnen i^mnyeus m i/o5/ tounded a species as Uissampdos Pareira, 

 citmg it as the source of Pareira Brava,— a confusion which has lasted 

 for more than a hundred years. This plant is very distinct from that 

 yielding true Pareira Brava, and though its roots and stems are used 

 medicinally in the West Indies,^ there is nothing to prove that they 

 were ever an object of export to Europe. 



As Pareira Brava failed to realise the extravagant pretensions 

 claimed for it, it gradually fell out of use,' and the characters of the 

 true drug became forgotten. This at least seems to be the explanation 

 of the fact that for many years past the Pareira Brava found in the 

 shops and supposed to be genuine is a substance very diverse from the 

 original drug,— albeit not devoid of medicinal properties. More re- 

 cently even this has become scarce, and an inert Pareira Brava has been 

 almost the sole kind obtainable. The true drug has however still 

 at times appeared in the European market, and attention having 



been directed to it,' we may hope that it will arrive in a rei^alaT- 

 manner. ^ 



The re-introduction of Pareira Brava into medical practice is due 

 (so far as Great Britain is concerned) to Brodie*' who recommended it 

 in 1828 for inflammation of the bladder. 



W 



Description — True Pareira Brava as derived from Chondodendron 

 tomentosum is a long, branching, woody root, attaining 2 inches or 

 more m diameter, but usually met with much smaller and dividing 

 into rootlets no thicker than k quill or even than a horse-hair. It i1 

 remarkably tortuous or serpentine and marked with transverse ridges 

 as well as with constrictions and cracks more or less conspicuous ; 

 t>esicles which the surface is strongly wrinkled longitudinally. The 



fk ^^ °j ^ ^^^^ blackish brown or even quite black when free from 

 earth, and disposed to exfoliate. The root breaks with a coarse fibrous 

 iracture; the inner substance is of a light yellowish brown,— sometimes 

 01 a dull greenish brown. 



Roots of about an inch in diameter cut transversely exhibit a 



central column 02 to 04 of an inch in diameter composed of 10 to 20 



converging wedges of large-pored woody tissue with 3 or 4 zones 



divided from each other by a wavy light-coloured line. Crossing these 



^ones are wedge-shaped_ woody rays, often rather sparsely and irregu- 



y clistnbuted. The interradial substance has a close, resinous, waxy 

 appearance. > > J 



slv' J^^!' *^^ough hard is easily shaved with a knife, some pieces 

 M 'ing the impression when cut of a waxy, rather than of a woody and 



' SS'^D/-^'"'^'"'^'''"*'*' 1^*S- 9*- inaiiy editions of tlie Edinbur'jh Dkpen- 



alsoS^i^?" ''-?"''• ^*^^""*' 1753 ; see satory. 



= LunL t7 /^^- ^'^- ^-^^^ * Hanbury iu Pkarm. Journ. Aug. 2-0, 



i^eacourS' £ '^""'f '^V "* ^^SU) 254 ; 1S73, pp. 81 and 102. 



(1827)231 '^^ Antilles, iii. <> Land. Med. Gazette, Feb. 16, 1828; 



* Tlnia ;V .. Brodie, Lectures on Diseases of the Urinary 



Pha™»i'!.7i^?T8'<^1ir,^?'.l?»i- Or^-. =d. 3. .842. .08, 138. 



