20 
IPECACUANHA PLANT. 
it under the genus Cephaelis. That they are essentially distinct, 
however, will readily appear from the comparison of their descrip- 
tions given in the Appendix.* Humboldt j- and Bonpland have 
also very lately described and figured the Psychotria emetica as the 
Ipecacuanha of New Spain. 
The Callicocca ipecacuanha grows, according to Brotero, in shady 
and moist places in Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio di Janeiro, and othei 
provinces of the Brazils. The Psychotria emetica according to Hum- 
boldt “ is cultivated in the warm and humid valleys of the mountains 
of San Lucar, near Simiti and Giron ; and also in the district called 
La Vara de Guammoco, to the west of the river Magdalen.” It is 
therefore evident, that two plants of different genera, one a native of 
North, the other of South America, produce the Ipecacuanha of com- 
merce. The first reaches Europe from Carthagena in America, by 
the way of Cadiz ; and the latter probably from the ports of St. Se- 
bastian and St. Salvador, through Lisbon. 
The plant which grows in the neighbourhood of the Botanic Garden 
was, indeed, supposed by Senhor Gomez, to be the Psychotria emetica 
of Linnaeus ; but the description with which he favoured me proves, 
I think, that it is the Callicocca of Brotero. ^ - 
Two other plants also grew in the immediate vicinity of the 
Botanic Garden, which possess emetic and purgative properties, but 
in a less degree than the Psychotria or Callicocca. These are also 
collected for medicinal purposes, and are sometimes confounded with, 
and sold for the true Ipecacuanha. They are the Richardia scabra 
of Linnaeus, called in Rio the White Ipecacuanha, probably the 
* See Appendix, A. f Plantes Equinoxiales. 
% “ Calix — Involucrum tetraphyllum. 
Corolla • — Infundibuliform : 5 fid. 
Stamina — 5 intra tubum. Antheris simplicibus. 
Pistillum — Germen ovatum. Stilus brevis. Stigm : bifid : 
Pericarp. Bacca flaccida 2 sperm. Semina, arillata, sulcata, contorta, hinc 
convexa, inde plana.” 
