IS-i President's Address. [sess. lii. 



cultivated in India and other countries, namely, the Ipecacuan 

 plant, Cepliaelis Iijccacuanlia. This plant is a native of 

 Brazil and other parts of South America, and had been in 

 cultivation in the Eoyal Botanic Garden for about thirty 

 years prior to 1869. During these thirty years the plants 

 had grown so slowly that the largest specimen was " scarcely 

 one foot in height," and only very few plants were in 

 cultivation. 



During August of that year Dr Anderson, Director of the 

 Botanic Garden, Calcutta, visited Edinburgh, and expressed 

 a strong desire to try the experiment of Ipecacuan cultiva- 

 tion in India. By this time the cultivation of Cinchona, 

 another South American plant, had become a complete 

 success, and Dr Anderson thovight that a similar success 

 might attend the cultivation of the Ipecacuan, a plant 

 belonging to the same natural family. In the tenth volume 

 of the Transactions of this Society, p. 319, we read — " A few 

 of them (rhizomes of Ipecacuan) were taken from one of the 

 plants in the . Botanic Garden during the month of August 

 18G9, and after being cut into transverse sections of different 

 lengths, were inserted in a horizontal position over the 

 surface of a pot prepared with drainage and white sand. 



A few weeks aftei'wards t1ie root-cuttings began to 



swell, and showed signs of budding Young plants so 



produced are now growing freely in the garden." 



This was the beginning of the cultivation of the Ipe- 

 cacuan from cuttings from the roots. By tliis means, plants 

 can be multiplied indefinitely, and arc now (cultivated in 

 India and other countries by the thousand, or rather, I 

 should say, by tens of thousands. I believe I am correct in 

 saying that it was Mr Robert Lindsay, the present Curator 

 of the Itoyal Botanic Garden, who first taught that the 

 Ipecacuan could be propagated l:)y rooi-cuttings, which was 

 an important discovery in connection with the cultivation of 

 medicinal plants, and one for which ho has scarcely got 

 suilicient credit. Many of the plants growing in India were 

 sent out from the lloyal Botanic Garden, and are now 

 su])]>lyiiig the markets with this valuable medicine. I have 

 in my niiiseum a beautiful spec^imen of Ipecacuan, sent home 

 from iii(|i;i, jiiid wliicli wiis olttiiiiiod from plants sent out 

 I'lom llie Jfoyid Botanic (jiarden. Surely this fact should 



