RADIX IPECACUANHA. IPECAC. 105 



Powder. — A medium fine powder, No. 60, is brownish 

 in color, and shows the following elements : Fibres, crys- 

 tals, vessels, starch, cork cells, and woody parenchyma of 

 medullary rays. The fibres are very numerous. Both 

 bast fibres and wood fibres are accompanied by crystal 

 small sacs, each containing a single crystal of calcium 

 oxalate. A line of such crystals lying along a fibre is a 

 very characteristip picture in licorice powder. The form 

 of the starch grains, cork cells, and medullary ray cells 

 is not of particular diagnostic significance. 



Chemistry. — Glycyrrhizin, glucose, mucilage, proteid, 

 starch, tannin, asparagin, fat, resin, and a yellow pig- 

 ment. 



RADIX IPECACUANHJE. IPECAC. 



Ipecac is the root of Cephcclis Ipecacuanha, a native of 

 Brazil, and extensively cultivated in India. Two vari- 

 eties are common in the markets of the United States, 

 the Rio Ipecac and the Carthagena. 



The plant grows in deep forests under the shade of trees. 

 The roots are pulled along the ground backwards and then 

 broken off, packed in bags after the dirt, which gives the 

 color to the root, has been cleaned off, then sorted, 

 rapidly dried in the sun and broken into short fragments. 



Description. — As the root appears in the market it 

 is in pieces from one to two or three inches in length, 

 twisted, slightly and irregularly contorted, 5 mm. in 

 thickness, grayish to brownish-black, according to the 

 character of the soil, distinctly annulated, annulae i to i J 

 mm. apart, wavy in places, longitudinally striated, when 

 dry cracked, the cracks running through the cortex to 

 the central cylinder. The fracture of the cortex is wavy to 

 resinous, that of the central cylinder is short, sharp, and 

 brittle. Odor slight, in the powder nauseous to irritating. 

 The taste of the cortex is bitter, that of the wood less so. 



Histology. — Under the dissecting microscope or lupe 

 the cross-section shows a thick cortical portion surrounded 



