NAT. ORDER. CEPH^LH)^. 
177 
short, fimbricated, withering stipules, embracing the stem ; the 
flowers are aggregated in a soUtary head, on a round, downy foot- 
stalk, terminating the stem ; somewhat drooping and encompassed 
by a four-leaved involucre ; the florets are sessile, from fifteen to 
twenty-four in number, interspersed with little bracteas ; the calyx 
is very small, five-toothed, superior, persistent ; the corolla is mono- 
petalous, the border shorter than the tube ; woolly about the throat, 
swelling upwards, and divided into five, ovate, acute, spreading 
segments ; the filaments are short, capillary, inserted into the upper 
part of the tube, surrounded at their base with a short nectariferous 
rim, and bearing oblong, linear, erect anthers ; the germen is ornate, 
surmounted by a thread-shaped style, as long as the tube, and ter- 
minated by two obtuse stigmas which are the length of the anthers ; 
the fruit is a one-celled berry, of a reddish-purple color, becoming 
wrinkled and black, and containing two smooth, oval seeds. 
Brown ipecacuan was first introduced into Europe about the 
middle of the last century ; but it is impossible to ascertain at what 
period this root was first made known for its emetic effects in this 
country. Piso published an account of it in 1618. Although the 
root of this plant has long been employed as an emetic, and as other- 
wise forming a valuable remedial agent in our list of materia medica ; 
yet the botanical characters of the plant itself were unknown, till 
Professor Brotero of Coimbra determined the genus to which it 
ought to be referred. According to Decandole, the term Ipecacu- 
anha, in South America, implies vomiting-root, and therefore it is 
imphed to the roots of very different plants, such as the Asclepias 
currassavica, Cynanchum Ipecacuanha, Viola Parviflora, Viola Ipe- 
cacuanha, Viola calceoiaria, and Cynanchum tormentosum : and some- 
times to the Dorstenia hrasiliensis, Dorstenia arifolia, and to the Eu- 
phorbia ipecacuanha. Two varieties of the root are brought to this 
country, packed in bales from Rio Janeiro, the brown and the white, 
but whether they be the roots of one and the same plant, or other- 
wise, does not appear to be exactly determined. According to 
Mutis, the former is the root of the Cephalis, and the latter, on the 
