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DRUGS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Ayapana (Eupatorium Ayapana). 



A REPUTED VALUABLE MEDICINAL PLANT. 

 By H. F. Macmillan. 



(Illustrated.) 



History.— The name Eupatorium is said to have been given to this genus of 

 plants in honour of Eupator, King of Pontus, who discovered one of the species to be 

 an antidote against snake poison. The genus is a large one, containing some 400 

 species, mostly natives of North and South America. A considerable number of 

 these appear to be credited with the possession of medicinal properties of more or 

 less importance in the countries to which they are indigenous. A few find 

 prominence in the Pharmacopoeias of Europe, and one species (E. ribaudictnum) has 

 recently come into prominence as a reputed source of sugar. Hitherto, however, the 

 one which has claimed most attention from a medicinal point of view is that which 

 forms the subject of these notes. " Ayapana " is the native name given to this plant 

 in Brazil, and it has therefore been retained by the botanist Ventenat, its discoverer, 

 in the scientific appelation of the species. It is a native of the valley of the Amazon, 

 being also found wild in Cayenne and other places in Northern South America. 

 Unlike prophets, plants usually seem to be accorded most honour in their 

 native country. This does not strictly apply to "Ayapana," for although it 

 does not seem to have yet been included in European Pharmacopoeias, its fame 

 has spread somewhat widely in parts of Asia and other countries, distant from 

 its original home. Thus the plant has long ago been introduced into Mauritius, 

 Reunion, Ceylon, India, Java, &c, and in almost all these countries has attracted 

 attention as a medicinal plant, its merits being invariably acknowledged by 

 those who have become acquainted with them. Its introduction into Mauri- 

 tius and neighbouring islands, on the authority of Baker, in his Flora of 

 Mauritius and Seychelles, dates from 1797. According to Dr. Ainslie it was brought 

 thence to India, for, fifteen years later, in his Materia Medica of Bindoostan, 

 he states that "it is as yet but little known amongst native practitioners." 

 Again, in 1826, Dr. Ainslie mentions that the plant was then in great repute in 

 Mauritius for its medicinal properties. Mr. Dyer had informed Dr. Ainslie that 

 the plant was being cultivated in the island of Bourbon for the purpose of 

 exporting the dried leaves to France. A "Catalogue of Plants growiug in 

 Bombay and its Vicinity," published by John Graham, in 1839, gives Ayapana 

 as being cultivated in Gardens at Bombay, as it is to the present day. In 

 Warming's Pharmacopoeia of India, (1868), it is stated (incorrectly) that the plant 

 is naturalized in Ceylon as well as "in various parts of India, Java, &c." Dr. 

 Dymock, in 1883, (vide Materia Medica of Western India) observed that the plant 

 had been cultivated in India for a considerable time. According to Dragendorff 

 in his Die Heilpflanzen, published in 1898, Ayapana is " partly cultivated in Java," 

 where it is considered to be of medicinal value. Mr. D. Hooper, Official Reporter 

 of Economic Products to the Government of India, writing in Indian Planting and 

 Gardening " in November of 1903, says that the plant is not uncommon in gardens in 

 Bombay and Bengal, and, " though not widely known, is held in considerable 

 esteem by those who are acquainted with it." The exact date of its introduction at 

 Peradeniya is not known. I have not seen it outside the Botanic Gardens, 

 though in the last few years! a "certain" number of plants have been issued to 



