47 



The Brazilian plant is variable in habit, and the Cartagena or 

 Colombian vai-iety is distinct and of less commercial value. 



R. DERRY. 



Mr. R. H. True (Bureau of Plant Industry of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture) has been supplied with the following informa- 

 tion from the American Consul at Cartagena regarding the cultivation 

 of Ipecacuanha, and this we publish from the "Oil Paint and Drug 

 Reporter" Ipecac, a trailing plant thrives best in clay soil along the 

 banks of rivers. While it requires a great deal of moisture, it cannot 

 live under water, and consequently in Colombia it is found in its best 

 development in regions where the rainfall is abundant, but where the 

 rivers do not overflow. 



The Sinu River is the ideal region for ipecac. The plant is 

 found in abundance from near the head-waters of this river . . . 

 The growth extends to a distance of several miles on each side of the 

 river and also to the more important tributaries of the Sinu, the 

 Esmeralds, Verde and Manso rivers. In regions where the water is 

 excessive, such as the valleys of the Atrato, the plant though found, 

 has a poor growth and is of an inferioi quality. In gathering ipecac 

 the whole plant is up-rooted and the thin and soft rootlets are thrown 

 away, and these discarded rcx^tlets serve as a means of reproduction, 

 becoming in a year well-developed plants having valuable roots of 

 their own. The present demand for ipecac is good, for the average 

 price in Cartagena is about $l.8o per lb. and $2.20 per lb. can be 

 obtained in some of the foreign markets for the dry roots. The 

 European demand is especially strong. France paying from i^. to 

 20c. more than can be obtained in the United States. The.4Wl 

 shipment of ipecac from this port during the calendar year IQI^ 

 amounted to 14,181 kilos. The area from which Cartagena ipecac 

 is derived is very extensive and somewhat scattered, though by 

 far the most important region is that of the Sinu River and its 

 tributaries. It is thought that the land actually covered by the plant 

 must embrace several hundr.^d square miles, though any attempt at 

 an accurate estimate would be useless. A relatively small amount 

 of Cartagena ipecac comes from the Atrato, and it is of inferior 

 quality. In addition to the two regions mentioned, there is still 

 another, nearer than either of them to Cartagena, called San Onafre. 

 Ipecac is not an object of cultivation in Columbia, though there is 

 no reason why it should not be, except the fact that it is found wild 

 in such abundance." 



{The Chemist and Druggist, Feb. 24, 1912, p. 78'. 



CALABAR BEAN. 



(Physostigma Vcnenosum). 



A plant allied to the runner-beans (Phaseolus) and native of 

 Nigeria and the Congo where it is used as an ordeal, but owing to its 

 poisonous properties the production has been discouraged. 



