12 FLORA HOMCEOPATHICA. 



continental writers it is denominated Annulated Ipecacuanha 

 {Radix Ipecacuanha amudatce), to distinguish it from the roots 

 of the Psychotria emetica and Kichardsonia scabra ; the first of 

 which is termed Striated Ipecacuanha, the second Undulated 

 Ipecacuanha. The root of Cephaelis Ipecacuanha occurs in 

 pieces of three or four inches long, and about the size of a 

 small writing-quill, variously bent and contorted, simple and 

 branched. It has a knotty appearance, in consequence of a 

 number of deep, circular fissures about a line in depth, and 

 which extend inwardly to a central ligneous cord, so as to give 

 the idea of a number of rings strung upon a thread (hence the 

 name annulated). These rings are unequal in size, both with 

 respect to each other and to different parts of the same ring. 

 This root has a resinous fracture. Its substance consists of two 

 parts; one called the cortical portion, which is brittle and 

 resinous, of a horny appearance, with a greyish or brownish- 

 grey colour, sometimes whitish ; and a second called meditullium, 

 and which consists of a thin, yellowish-white, woody, vascular 

 cord, running through the centre of each piece. In one hundred 

 parts of good Ipecacuanha, there are about eighty of cortex and 

 twenty of meditullium. Ipecacuanha root has an acrid, aromatic, 

 somewhat bitter taste, and a slightly nauseous but peculiar 

 odour. The colour of the root varies somewhat, being brownish, 

 reddish-brown, greyish-brown, or grey." Richard {Diet des 

 Sc. Med., t. xxvi.) mentions three varieties : 1. Brown annulated 

 Ipecacuanha. 2. Red annulated Ipecacuanha, 3. Grey an- 

 nulated Ipecacuanha. According to Pclletier's analysis, every 

 hundred parts of the cortex contain from fourteen to sixteen 

 per cent, of emetina. 



Geographical DisxRiBurios.-Brazil ; in moist, shady 

 places, from eight to twenty degrees of south latitude. Abun- 

 dant m the valleys of the granitic mountains which run (more or 

 less distant from the sea) through the provinces of Rio Janeiro, 

 i-perito Santo, and Bahia. It is also met with ni Pei nambuco. 



