142 
PHARMA COO NOS Y. 
United States of Colombia, are exported from Car- 
thagena and Savanilla, and are known commercially 
as Carthagena Ipecac. 
Description. — Rio or Brazilian Ipecac. — Cylindrical, 
more or less tortuous, 5 to 15 cm. long, 1 to 5 mm. in 
diameter; externally dark brown, irregularly annulate, 
sometimes transversely fissured, with occasional root- 
lets or rootlet scars; fracture of bark brittle, of the 
wood tough; internally, bark light brown, 0‘5 to 1 mm. 
thick, easily separable from the dark - yellow non- 
porous wood; odor slight; taste bitter, acrid. 
Carthagena Ipecac closely resembles the Iiio or Bra- 
zilian ipecac, but the roots are uniformly thicker (4 to 
7 mm. in diameter) and the annulations are less 
pronounced. 
Stems usually more slender, 5 to 10 cm. long, 1 to 
1'5 mm. in diameter, nearly smooth or longitudinally 
wrinkled, bark 01 mm. thick, with bast fibers either 
single or in groups, pith distinct, 0'5 mm. in diameter. 
Constituents. — Ipecac contains three alkaloids (2 to 
3 percent.) — emetine, cephaeline and psychotrine; a 
glucoside resembling saponin; starch, in considerable 
quantity, and calcium oxalate. 
The total amount of alkaloids in Rio and Cartha- 
gena ipecac not only varies but there is a difference in 
the proportions of emetine and cephaeline: in Rio 
ipecac the proportion is one-tliird cephaeline to two- 
thirds emetine, while in Carthagena ipecac there are 
four-fifths cephaeline to one-fifth emetine. 
Plants with Similar Properties. — A number of 
plants have been proposed to replace ipecac, the most 
important of which is Sycocarpus Rusbyi (Fam. Melia- 
ceee), a tree indigenous to Bolivia and yielding Coeil- 
lana bark, which contains several alkaloids but no 
emetine. Five or six other drugs, some of which 
