7 i 
810 - ‘ IPECACUANHA. 
IPECACUANHA, ° = : IPECACUAN. 
Tpecacuanha. Pharm. Lond. & Edinb. 
AFTER the great diligence of naturalists in exploring every 
quarter of the world, to extend the science of botany, it seems 
surprising that the plant Ipecacuanha, the roots of which have 
been in common use more than a century, should not have yet 
been botanically ascertained. It has been referred to several 
different genera, as that of paris, euphorbia, lonicera, viola, 
pyschotria, &c.; and though this last has lately been thought to 
be the genus to which it belongs 2 cand consequently named P. 
emetica ee BR Pls Lit ZEUS | ; yet the authority on which 
bie 
vi dently the true Tpecacuanha plant, 
anK : ee inflorescence, leaves this matter 
still undetermined” “For the plant here represented, we are 
obliged to Sir Joseph Banks; to whom it was sent (preserved in 
spirits ) from Brazil by Governor Phillips; and though it is not 
in a state of perfection, we trust it will, asa curiosity, be thought 
a valuable addition to our plates, 
“Piso divides this root into two sorts, the ‘white and the brown, 
or according to-Geoffroy, the Per uvian and Brazilian Tpecacuanha ;* 
but three sorts are evidently distinguishable in our shops, viz. ash- 
coloured or grey, brown, and white, The ash-coloured is brought 
from Peru, and “is a small wrinkled root, bent and. contorted i into 
a great variety of figures, brought over in short’ pieces full of 
wrinkles and deep circular fissures, down to a small white woody: 
fibre that runs in ihe middle of each piece: the cortical part is 
compact, brittle, looks smooth and resinous upon breaking: it has 
very little smell; the taste is bitterish and subacrid, covering the 
* Péson. ind. ree. Bed. et Nat! p. 231, 
“i 
: ‘we: cannot implicitly follow; and 
a 
a | 
