CRUDE DRUGS. 471 



about 40 per cent, of starch ; and calcium oxalate in the form of 

 raphides. 



The total amount of alkaloids in Rio and Carthagena ipecac 

 not only varies but there is a difference in the proportions of 

 emetine (the expectorant alkaloid) and cephaeline (the emetic 

 alkaloid) ; in Rio ipecac the proportion is one-third cephaeline to 

 two-thirds emetine, while in Carthagena ipecac there are four- 

 iifths cephaeline to one-fifth emetine. 



Allied Plants. — A number of drugs, some of which resemble 

 ipecac, sometimes find their way into commerce, and, while they 

 all possess emetic properties, none of them contain emetine. The 

 following drugs obtained from plants of the Rubiace/e have been 

 substituted for Ipecac. Undulated (or Farinaceous) Ipecac 

 from Richardsonia scabra, a plant growing in tropical and sub- 

 tropical America, is an undulate, annulate root, the bark of which 

 is nearly as thick as the yellowish, soft wood. Striated Ipecac 

 from Cephaelis emetica, a plant growing in South America, is a 

 dark purplish-brown root, with a few transverse fissures and a 

 thick bark in which starch is absent. Several members of the 

 Rosacea contain emetic principles and the roots of the following 

 plants growing in the United States have been substituted for 

 Ipecac: American Ipecac (Porteranthus stipulatiis), the root 

 of which is annulate, and in other ways resembles ipecac, but has 

 a thinner bark with numerous resin cells ; and Indian Physic 

 (P. trifoliatus), the roots of which resemble those of American 

 Ipecac but are not annulate. 



The roots of several of the plants of the Euphorbiace^ are 

 used as emetics. Ipecac spurge is the root of Euphorbia Ipecac- 

 uanha, a plant common in sandy soil of the Eastern United States. 

 The roots are 30 cm. or more long, about i cm. thick, nearly 

 cyHndrical, light brown; internally the wood is yellow and the 

 bark white and with numerous latex vessels. The taste is sweet, 

 somewhat acrid and bitter. Ipecac spurge contains a crystalline 

 resin, euphorbon; probably a glucoside, and starch. Purging or 

 Emetic root is obtained from the large flowering spurge (Eu- 

 phorbia corollata), a plant found in sandy soil east of the Missis- 

 sippi. The root resembles the Ipecac spurge but is dark brown or 

 brownish-black externally, and the constituents are similar; 



