IPECACUANHA 173 



the adulterants was the root of an Apocynum, as de- 

 scribed in Lewis' (382) Materia Medica, as follows: 



"A root has been brought over under the name of 

 white ipecacoanha, which has little or nothing of the 

 virtues of the two foregoing : this is readily distinguished 

 by its yellowish white colour, woody texture, and having 

 no fissures or wrinkles. More dangerous abuses have 

 sometimes been committed, by the substitution or mix- 

 ture of the roots of an American Apocynum, which have 

 been found to operate with great violence both upwards 

 and downwards, and in some instances, as is said, to 

 prove fatal; these may be known by their being larger 

 than the true ipecacoanha, the fissures more distant, 

 the intermediate spaces smoother, and more particu- 

 larly by the colour of the medullary fibre, which in the 

 poisonous roots is a deep reddish yellow, in the true 

 ipecacoanha a whitish or pale greyish." 



CULTIVATION AND COLLECTION OF IPECAC. The 

 peculiar structure of the flower requires the intervention 

 of insects for the purpose of fertilization; when culti- 

 vated in hot houses, it is necessary to transfer mechan- 

 ically some pollen to the stigma, if the plant is expected 

 to bear fruit. 



In 1849, Weddell called attention to the fact that if a 

 fragment of the plant be allowed to lie on the ground for 

 any length of time, it will strike root. The corners of 

 the leaf stalks are especially prone to issue such adven- 

 titious roots, and the stem will also bud when in contact 

 with the ground. This property of the ipecac plant was 

 rediscovered in 1870 by McNab. Probably this re- 

 productive power accounts for the plant resisting ex- 

 termination, despite the rapacious method employed 

 in collecting it. 



