522 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[January 4, 1873. 
Thenot*, prepayateur of natural history in the School 
of Pharmacy, went further, and showed that in the 
collection of the school there existed in reality two 
species of striated ipecacuanha differing considerably 
in their anatomical characters. This result was 
afterwards confirmed by M. Charles Menierf, who 
passing in review all the true and false species of 
ipecacuanhas submitted them to a microscopical 
examination. 
It thus appeared from these researches that under 
the name of striated ipecacuanha, writers have gene¬ 
rally confounded two very distinct roots. It is to these 
species I therefore would wish to refer, in order to 
indicate their characters, investigate their botanical 
origin, and establish exactly their synonymy. 
The two sorts are so different in their dimensions 
that they may be designated respectively the major 
and the minor striated ipecacuanha. 
1. The Major Striated Ipecacuanha. —This ipeca¬ 
cuanha is met with in moderately long fragments, 
sometimes attaining a length of nine or ten centi¬ 
metres. The diameter varies between five and nine 
millimetres. The fragments are sometimes rectilinear, 
sometimes sinuous, more rarely tortuous. At rather 
distant intervals they are marked by contractions or 
simply circular interstices. The whole of the surface 
is rather coarsely striated longitudinally. On the 
upper side the roots often bear the base of several 
stems, distinguishable by their much smoother sur¬ 
face. The colour of this ipecacuanha is a tawny 
grey, tending sometimes towards a reddish brown. 
As in the other species of ipecacuanha, a section 
of this root reveals a cortical portion and a ligneous 
meditullium. The cortical portion is soft enough to 
allow of its being marked by the linger nail. It has 
a horny appearance, and is rather variable in colour, 
being sometimes whitish, and passing by shades of 
rose and violet to a violet black. Its thickness is 
relatively considerable, at least two-thirds of the 
radius, and it becomes still more so when the root is 
placed in water, which causes it to swell freely. The 
meditullium is of a yellowish white colour" The 
odour of the root is not very marked. The taste is 
scarcely nauseous, being sometimes insipid and fre¬ 
quently sweetish. 
A microscopical examination of the cortical portion 
shows beneath five or six layers of tubular cells, with 
brownish walls, a parenchyma formed of large poly- 
gonal cells. These cells become smaller as they ap¬ 
proach the ligneous meditullium; they become pretty 
regularly hexagonal, and form series radiating almost 
rectilinearly. They are entirely free from starch; 
a certain number of them contain bundles of raphides, 
and all are filled with an amorphous substance 
soluble in water, and capable of reducing cupro- 
potassic solution. The ligneous meditullium consists 
of fibres with incrusted sides arranged in radiating 
series, between which are interposed vessels with 
very narrow openings, not exceeding the diameter of 
the ligneous fibres. It contains no trace of starch. 
The salient characters resulting from this examina¬ 
tion, and which may be regarded as distinctive from 
those of the second species of striated ipecacuanha, 
are (1) the complete absence of starch; (2) the 
relatively small diameter of the vessels of the medi¬ 
tullium ; (3) the presence of a principle capable of 
* ‘ De la Cellule Vegetale ; de son importance au point de 
vue de la matiere medicale’ (Ibid. 1870). 
t ‘Dos Ipecacuanhas’ (Ibid. 1871). 
reducing the cupro-potassic reagent. This matter 
exists in very great quantity in the cortical portion; 
a simple digestion in water giving a liquid with 
strongly reducing power, but which does not exercise 
a deviating influence on a ray of polarized light. 
This substance merits a closer study.* 
The major striated ipecacuanha comes from New 
Granada. It contains but very little emetine; at 
least so it would appear from the analyses made by 
M. Dorvault, which confirmed those made by Pro¬ 
fessor Attfield,t who attributed to it two and a half 
per cent, of active principle. 
2. Minor Striated Ipecacuanha. — This sort is 
distinguished from the former by its much smaller 
dimensions. It is in very short fragments, two or 
three centimetres or more. Some nearly cylindrical, 
scarcely constricted, are only two or three millimetres 
in diameter; others are narrowly fusiform; others 
again are formed of cylindrical or pyriform segments 
placed end to end ; these are generally thicker and 
attain a diameter of five or six millimetres. The 
general colour is a grey brown, darker than that of 
the first sort. The longitudinal strice are fine and 
regular. In a transverse section the cortical portion 
is as horny and the consistence closer than in the 
major land. The meditullium is } r ellowish, marked 
with a great number of pores, visible with a glass. 
The microscope shows in the cortical portion— 
(1) a first zone, formed of from seven to nine layers 
of very narrow tubular cells ; (2) a thick parenchyma 
formed of cells with irregularly sinuous walls, filled 
with starch, and containing here and there bundles 
of raphides ; (3) a liber zone, in a transverse section 
of which are seen narrow polygonal fibres and cells 
ranged in radiating series. The ligneous meditullium 
is distinguished immediately by the dimensions of 
the vessels, which give a porous appearance to this 
part, and which stand out distinctly by their size 
from the woody cells surrounding them. 
The salient microscopic characters of this species 
are (1) the presence of starch; (2) the relative de¬ 
velopment of the liber zone; (3) the size of the 
vessels in the middle of the woody layer. 
This sort of striated ipecacuanha contains a much 
larger proportion of emetine than the preceding : nine 
per cent., according to the analysis of Pelletier ;| 
six and a half per cent, of pure emetine according to 
Attfield.§ 
It will be seen that the two preceding species are 
perfectly distinct in some of their anatomical charac¬ 
ters. Let us try and complete their history, profit¬ 
ing by the data above given. 
First, what is their botanical origin ? It is known 
that writers on materia medica have referred the 
striated ipecacuanha to a New Granada plant, sent 
by Mutis to Linnaeus, and described by him under 
the name of Psychotria emetica. Which of the two 
commercial kinds of striated ipecacuanha are ob¬ 
tained from this species ? An examination of the 
roots ought to clear up this question. M. Triana, 
on the one hand, and M. Posada, on the other, have 
kindly furnished me with specimens of these roots, 
* Professor Attfield has noticed the presence in this root 
of 5 - 39 per cent, of grape sugar, and 34 per cent, cane sugar, 
or of substances soluble in water and capable of being con¬ 
verted into sugar by boiling with an acid (PiiAEil. Joukx., 
second series, vol. XI. p. 141). 
f Loe. cit. 
I Journ. de Pharm., vol. vi. p. 261. 
§ Pjiarm. Jourx. [2] vol. XI. p, 141. 
