RADIX IPECACUANHiE. 373 



by artificial fertilization, especially when the flowers of a plant produc- 

 ing long styles were fertilized with the pollen of one having 8^07'^ 

 styles, — for Cejyhaelis like Cinchona has dimorphic flowers. 



With regard to the acclimatization of the plant in India, much difii- 

 culty has been encountered, and successful results are still problematical. 

 The first plant was taken to Calcutta by Dr. King in 18G6,and by 1868 

 had been increased to nine ; but in 1870-71, it was reported that, not- 

 withstanding every care, the plants could not be made to thrive. Three 

 plants which had been sent to the Rungbi plantation in 1868, grew 

 rather better ; and by adopting the method of root propagation, they 

 were increased by August 1871, to 300. Three consignments of plants, 

 numbering in all 370, were received from Scotland in 1871-72, besides 

 a smaller number from the Royal Gardens, Kew. From these various 

 collections, the propagation has been so extensive, that on 31 March 

 1873, there were 6,719 young plants in Sikkim, in addition to about 

 500 in Calcutta, and much more in 1874. 



The ipecacuanha plant in India has been tried under a variety of 

 conditions as regards sun and shade, but thus far with only a mode- 

 rate amount of success. The best results are those that have been 

 obtained at Rungbi, 3000 feet above the sea, where the plants, placed 

 in glazed frames, were reported in May 1873 as in the most healthy 

 condition.^ 



Description — The stem creeps a little below the surface of the 

 soil, emitting a small number of slightly branching contorted roots, a 

 few inches long. These roots when young are very slender and thread- 

 like, but grow gradually knotty and become by degrees invested with 

 a very thick bark, transversely corrugated or ringed. Close examina- 

 tion of the dry root shows that the bark is raised in narrow warty 

 ridges, which sometimes run entirely round the root, sometimes encircle 

 only half its circumference. The whole surface is moreover minutely 

 wrinkled longitudinally. The rings or corrugations of a full sized root 

 number about 20 in an inch ; not unfrequently they are deep enough 

 to penetrate to the wood. 



The root attains a maximum diameter of about ^ of an inch ; but 

 as imported, a large proportion of it is much smaller. The woody cen- 

 tral part is scarcely -z?^ of an inch in diameter, sub-cylindrical, sometimes 

 striated, and devoid of pith. 



Ipecacuanha is of a dusky grey hue, occasionally of a dull ferru- 

 ginous brown. The root is hard, breaks short and granular (not 

 fibrous), exhibiting a resinous, waxy, or farinaceous interior, white or 

 greyish. The bark, which constitutes 75 to 80 per cent, of the entire 

 root, may be easily separated from the less brittle wood. It has a 

 bitterish taste and faint, musty smell ; when freshly dried it is probably 

 much more odorous. The wood is almost tasteless. In the drug of 

 commerce the roots are always much broken, and there is often a con- 

 siderable separation of bark from wood ; portions of the non-annulated, 

 woody, subterraneous stem are always present. 



During the last few years there has been imported into London a 

 variety of ipecacuanha, distinguished as Carthagena or Nevj Granada 



^ Annual Eejxyrt of the Royal Botanical foregoing particulars. The report for 

 Gardens, Calcutta, 31 May 1873— from 1876-1877 is by no means favourable to 

 which we have abstracted many of the the prospects of Cephaelis in India. 



