VIOLACEM. 351 



There are five constant characters in this family : the quinary 

 floral type ; the presence of free petals covering each other in prse- 

 floration ; the number of fertile stamens equal to the petals, with 

 which they alternate ; the parietal placentation and fleshy albumen 

 of the seeds. Several features of organization, although not con- 

 stant, are only wanting in a very few cases : these are the alternation 

 of the leaves, 1 the presence of stipules, 2 the indefinite number of 

 ovules, 3 the consistence of the capsule. 4 The other characters vary in 

 the different genera, which they serve to distinguish from each other. 



The properties 5 of the plants of this family are tolerably homo- 

 geneous. Their roots are emetic to a slight degree in the European 

 species, and decidedly so in those of South America, so that they 

 have been employed as a false Ipecacuanha. The most celebrated in 

 this respect is the plant giving the false Ipecacuanha of Brazil and 

 Guiana, a drug much used 6 in its native country for the same pur- 

 poses as the true Ipecacuanha, for which it is often substituted ; the 

 species should certainly take the name of Hybanthus Ipecacuanha? 

 The root of Cuichunchilli or Cuchunchul/t/ of Peru, another powerful 

 emetic, belongs to a second species of the same genus, //. micro- 

 phyttus.* H. scandens, 9 Poaya, 10 Maytensillo" lanatus^ brevicaulis,™ 



1 Opposite in some species of Rinorea and number of the stamens. V. Calceolaria L. 

 Hybanthus. {Ionidium Calceolaria Vent.) probably belongs to 



2 Hymenanthera is destitute of it. thesamespecies,whichpresentsnumerousvarieties. 



3 There are one or two on each placenta in 8 Ionidium microphyllum H. B. K., Nov. 

 some Rinoreas. Gen. et Spec., v. 374-, t. 425. — DC, Prodr., i. 



4 It is more or less fleshy in Leonia, and 310, n. 21. — Lindl., Fl. Med., 98. — Bance., 

 several species of Rinorea. in Comp. to Rot. Mag., i. 278. In Trop. Ame- 



5 ENDL.,-E'«c7i£>7d.,47l. — JjIXDL., Veg.Kingd., rica this drug, in addition to its evacuant pro- 

 339 ; Fl. Med., 97. — Gttib., Drog. Simpl., ed. 6, perties, is said to cure obstinate cutaneous afl'ec- 

 iii. 662. — Rosenth., Syn. PI. Diaphor., 658. tions, especially the elephantiasis of Quito, named 



fi Evacuant, emetic, purgative, antidysenteric ; by the Spaniards Malo de San Lazaro. 

 it contains ementine. 9 Jacq. (ex Rosenth., op. cit., 660). — Viola 



' Viola Ipecacuanha h., Manliss., 484; Diss. Hybanthus L. — Ionidium Hybanthus Vent. 



de Viol. Spec.,1; Mat. Med., 484. — V.Ilubu (vulg. Ipecacuanha, Pira-aia). 

 Attbl., Guian., ii. 808, t. 318. — ? V. diandra 10 Ionidium Poaya A. S. H., PI. Us. Bras., 



L., Syst. Veg., 669. — Pombalia Ipecacuanha t. 9 ; PL Rem., 308 (vulg. Poaya do campo). 



Vandell., Fasc, 7, t. 1. — P. Itubu GlNG., in Is used as ipecacuanha in the Minas province. 

 DC, Prod., i. 307, n. 1. — Ionidium Itubu u Ionidium Maytensillo Feuill., Chit., iii. 41, 



H. B. K., N~ov. Gen. et Spec, v. t. 496. — I. t. 28. — Rosenth., qp. cit., 661 (according to 



Itouboa Vent., ex Guib., op. cit., iii. 99, fig. 589. Hookee, another name for I. parvijlorum 



— I. Ipecacuanha A. S. H., PL Us. Bras., n. A. S. H.). Considered as a most powerful pur- 



11 ; PL Rem., 307. — Bot. Mag., t. 2453. — gative in Chili. 



Lindl., Fl. Med., 98. — Guib., loc. cit., 97.— 12 I. lanatum A. S. H., Fl. Bras. Mer., ii. 



Rosenth., op. cit., 660. — Pekeiea, Flem. Mat. 145, n. 11. 



Med., ed. 4, ii. p. ii. 575. (Vulg. Poaya branca, l3 /. brevicaule Maet., Mat. Med. Bras., t. 



P. da Praja, Bres. ; Ipekaka, Guiana). If the 3, 8, tig. 7. — Lindl., FL Med., 99. A mild 



synonym of V. diandra is correct, this specific purgative is prepared in Brazil by mixing the 



name should be rejected on account of the real pulverized root with sugar and milk. 



