IPECACUANHA OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 221 



The dye is obtained by soaking the plant in water, the same as 

 with true Indigo. T. toxicaria is found in many parts of the 

 tropics, and is employed for poisoning fish; but it does not 

 make them unwholesome. 2. Marsdcnia tindoria, a strong 

 perennial, or rather small shrub, of the Swalloww^ort family 

 (Asclepiadacese), native of Pegu and other parts of Eastern India ; 

 its willow-like leaves macerated in water yield a fine kind of 

 Indigo, and as the plant is permanent, of free growth, and readily 

 propagated from cuttings, it was thought l)y Dr. Roxburgh and 

 others that it might be cultivated to such an extent as to yield 

 a greater quantity of Indigo than is obtained from an equally 

 cultivated extent of the true Indigo plant. 3. Wriglitia tinc- 

 toria, a shrub or small tree of the Dogbane family (Apocy- 

 nacese), native of India. By maceration in water its leaves . 

 yield a kind of Indigo, in Southern India called Pala Indigo. 

 4. Randict aculeata,a shrub of the Cinchona family (Cinchonaceffi), 

 native of the West Indies. In Jamaica it is called Ink 

 Berry, its fruit yielding a kind of Indigo. 5. Polygomtm 

 tinctoi'ium. Indigo of good quality is made from this plant 

 in China and Japan. 



Indigo, Chinese Green. {See Buckthorn.) 



Ink Berry. {See Indigo.) 



Ink Plant. {See Coriaria.) 



Insect Wax. {See Ash and Wax Trees.) 



Iodine, a chemical substance obtained from the alkali of 

 burnt seaweeds, used medicinally as a powerful absorbent. {See 

 Fucus.) 



Ipecacuanha {Oephaelis Tpecacumiha), a small soft-stemmed 

 plant, a foot or more in height, having opposite, ovate, oblong 

 leaves IJ to 2 inches in length, and terminal heads of small 

 inconspicuous flowers. The stems are ca^spitose, rising from a 

 creeping knotty root. It belongs to the Cinchona family 

 (Cinchonaceas), and is a native of the forests throughout Brazil. 

 The roots of this plant are highly valued in medicine in the 

 treatment of dysentery, and as a safe emetic or tonic. From 

 the great demand for these roots it is becoming extirpated 



