174 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



The root is dug all the year round, but especially in 

 the months of January and February, when the plant 

 is in bloom. It is perhaps to be regretted that the col- 

 lection is not postponed until May, when the fruit 

 ripens, for then the scattered seeds would insure a new 

 growth. It is said that, owing to the vicious system of 

 collection, the plant has become scarce in the vicinity 

 of large cities, as Rio de Janeiro. Professor Rusby 

 states that the scarcity in trade during a recent period 

 is also due to the fact that the attention of the natives 

 has shifted towards the rubber industry. (Pharm. 

 Jour., 1889, p. 1056). 



The most abundant growth of the drug, on the au- 

 thority of Weddell, is to be found in the interior of the 

 Brazilian province of Matto Grosso. The "poayeros," 

 as the collectors of the plant are called, skillfully cut off 

 the root, taking care to leave part of it in the ground, 

 afterwards they carefully fill the hole again with earth. 

 By taking this precaution, it is said that after three or 

 four years a new crop may be gathered at the same 

 spot. A skilled poayero collects thirty pounds a day, 

 but the average is not more than six to ten pounds a 

 day. 



Since 1866 attempts have been made by the British 

 to transfer the cultivation of ipecacuanha to India, but 

 these seem not to have been successful. From one 

 specimen sent to India by Hooker in 1866, an increase 

 of but 11 plants resulted to the date of 1872. Upon 

 McNab's discovery of the propagation by root, 300 

 specimens obtained in this manner were sent to 

 India and planted in dark woods of the hot and moist 

 valleys of British Sikkim in the Himalaya Mountains. 

 Although they multiplied in one season to an aggregate 



