FOLIA TYLOPHOK^. 



427 



FOLIA TYLOPHORi^. 



Country or Indian Ij^ecacuanha. 



Botanical Origin 



ight et Axnott(Asclep 



asthmatica Roxb.), a twining perennial plants common in sandy soils 

 througliout the Indian Peninsula and naturalized in Mauritius. It 

 may be distinguisbed from some of its congeners by its reddish or dull 

 pink flowers, with the scale of the staminal corona abruptly contracted 

 into a long sharp tooth.^ 



History — The employment of this plant in medicine is well 

 a to the Hindus, who call it Antamul and use it with 



kno'i\ 



considerable success in dysentery, but we have not succeeded in 

 tracing it in the ancient Indian literature. During the last century 

 it attracted the attention of Roxburgh ^ who made many obser- 

 vations on the administration of the root, while physician to 

 the General Hospital of Madras from 177G to 1778." It was 

 ^so used very successfully in the place of ipecacuanha by Anderson, 

 rnysician-General to the Madras army .3 In more recent times, 

 the plant has been prescribed by O'Shaughnessy, who pronounced 

 tne root an excellent substitute for ipecacuanha if given in rather larger 

 doses. Kirkpatrick' administered the drug in at least a thousand 

 cases, and found it of the greatest value ; he prescribed the dried leaf, 

 not only because superior to the root in certainty of action, but also as 

 Demg obtamable without destruction of the plant. The drug has been 

 largely given by many other practitioners in India. Tylophora is also 

 employed m Mauritius, where it is known as Ipeca sauvage or Ipe'ca du 

 Fjys. It has a place in the Bengal Pharmacopeia of 1844, and in the 

 J- harmacopoiia of India of I8G8. 



5 - ^^^?^^P^^°n«— The leaves are opposite, entire, from 2 to 5 inches long, 

 usuall r ^^^^^' somewhat variable in outline, ovate orsubrotund, 

 rathp, 1 ^?,^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^> abruptly acuminate or almost mucronate, 

 simnlo ,™^^T> glabrous above, more or less downy beneath with soft 



hJih r\. ^^® pedicel, which is channoUed, is | to | of an inch in 



mle vii '.*> dry state the leav 



Avitl^K I ..S^*^^^^' *^^^y liavea not impleasant herbaceous smell, 



^nth but very little taste.^ 



a slialifi"^^^^- -^°"^POsition — A concentrated infusion of the leaves has 

 neut?a] "^Tl ^^^^'^' "^^ ^^ abundantly precipitated by tannic acid, by 

 W Dprnl f ^. t °^ leac^ or caustic potash, and is turned greenish-black 

 us (1879^^''^! f ^^^^' I^i^oughton of Ootacamund (India) has informed 

 V ^) that from a large quantity of the leaves he obtained a small 



es are rather thick and harsh, of a 



l^if-^!^. Bentley and Tri 



Plants 



2 



", part 20 (1878). 



linen, Med, 



°'^ DrZ'^hS ''Jy'''' «/ ^'^^i^n Plants 

 -^i«t of Mv/''^7^'-«-^ E^hihUion 0/1855, 



« Drawn up from an ample specimen 

 kindly presented to us, together with one of 

 the root, by Mr. Moodeen Sheriff of Madras. 



' A figure of the leaves may be found in 

 a paper on Uuio-mool by M. C, Cooke, 

 Phai-ni, Joimu Aug. 6, 1870. 105 ; and one 

 of the whole plant in Wight's Icones Plant- 

 arum Jiidke OrientaUs^ iv.(1850) tab. 1277, 



