THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[June 1, 1872. 
070 
dermal cells. The hairs are conical, and arise from a 
series of 5-7 cells at the base. They are often parti¬ 
tioned. The section of the aerial stem shows a cortical, 
fibrous, and medullary portion. The epidermis consists 
of condensed cells. Below it are cells more or less hexa¬ 
gonal. Then we come to the vascular circle, consisting 
of spiral and pitted vessels, and fusiform tubes of wood. 
In the centre are the hexagonal cells of pith. 
The true Ipecacuan of commerce is an annulated 
root, occurring in pieces three to four inches long, and 
about the size of a small w r riting quill, variously bent. 
The rings constitute the cortical portion of the root. 
They can be easily separated from the central portion, 
and pulled off in a ring-like shape. In many pharma¬ 
ceutical specimens the hard central part is seen between 
some of the rings. They appear like a row of rings 
strung on a fibrous hread; hence the name ringed or 
annulated. 
The root has a resinous fracture. The outer portion 
is of a dark brown or grey colour. The epidermal por¬ 
tion consists of compact cells. Below these are hexa¬ 
gonal cells, full of starch grains of various forms—round, 
oval, and angular, with a distinct hilum, which is round, 
or angular, or elliptical. Near the hilum there is a dark 
shading, which seems to indicate striation. Neither Mr. 
Sadler nor myself have been able to detect true striae on 
them, even under a Ross microscope magnifying 870 
diameters. In some of the cells, the starch grains are 
crowded together so as to fill the whole cavity. 
The inner part of the cortex consists of more delicate 
and more transparent cells without starch, or, at least, 
with a small number of grains. Then comes the central 
part, called by pharmaceutists the meditullium. It is of 
a fibrous nature, and consists of pleurenchyma and pitted 
vessels without any spirals. These vessels are arranged 
in wedge-shaped clusters, radiating from the centre. In 
some of the tubes of the wood starch-grains are found 
in large quantity. There is no true pith. From the 
meditullium extend spur-like processes, which are rudi¬ 
mentary buds. When the root is cut into pieces, these 
projecting portions constitute the nodes whence buds 
proceed. It is by means of them that plants have been 
propagated. 
The cortical part of the root contains the active prin¬ 
ciple called emetine or emetia, which was discovered by 
Pelletier and Magendie in 1817. It is a white, slightly 
bitter substance, is insoluble in water, or ether, but is 
soluble in alcohol and dilute acids, as well as in chloro¬ 
form. In the dose of one-sixteenth of a grain it acts 
as a violent emetic. Two grains of emetine will kill a 
dog. 
Une of the plants early used as Ipecacuan, and figured 
as such, under the name of striated, black, or Peruvian 
Ipecacuan, is Psychotria emetica. It differs chiefly from 
Cephaelis in the want of the common involucre, and in 
the flowers being stalked so as to form a sort of fascicle 
or corymb. 
Psychotria, L. — Calyx gamosepalous, 5 - toothed; 
corolla funnel-shaped, 5-cleft; 5 stamens, anthers ex- 
serted or included; style bifid; drupe with two seeds, 
calyx limb attached to the fruit. 
P. emetica , Mutis (Cephaelis emetica, of Persoon).— 
Shrubby, erect, oblong-acuminate leaves, ciliated; sti¬ 
pules short, ovate, acuminate; fruit succulent, somewhat 
globose, of a blue colour. It is found in New Granada, 
.and on the banks of the Magdalena river. 
The roots of the plant are perpendicular and knotted, 
not closely annulated, like the Ipecacuan, and they are 
distinctly striated. They have a slender axis or medi- 
Ttullium, and a thick friable cortical portion. They yield 
mine per cent, of emetine. The stem of the plant has a 
ire markable septate or discoid pith, similar to what 
occurs in some Euphorbias, as well as in the walnut and 
jessamine. 
Another plant supplies the white or amylaceous Ipcca- 
euan (Poaya do Campo) found in Brazil, New Granada, 
Peru, and Vera Cruz. It belongs also to Cinchonacece , 
the Tribe Spermacocidee , and Genus Pichardsonia. 
Pichardsonia, Kunth; Pichardia , L. — Calyx sub- 
globose, 4-7-partite, corolla funnel-shaped, 3-5-lobed, 
stamens 3-5, exserted; fruit, 3-4, dry, one-seeded cocci, 
forming a sort of capsule with the calyx limb on the 
top. 
Pichardsonia scahra, St. Hilaire (P. hrasiliensis, Yirey). 
—Stem with rough hairs ; leaves ovate, or ovate-lanceo¬ 
late, -with rough margins ; the seta) of the stipules shorter 
than the sheath ; heads many flowered; triangular lobes 
of calyx ciliated ; segments of corolla hairy at the apex. 
The fracture of the root is not resinous, but farinaceous, 
of a dull white colour. There is an abundance of starch 
in the cells. The root contains about six per cent, of 
emetine. Martius says that it is used as an emetic, in 
doses of 5j to jij. 
In the same section of Cinchonaceec occur species of 
Borreria, which are used like Ipecacuan. 
Borreria ferruginea , DC. (Spermacoce ferruginea , St. 
Hilaire); Borreria Poaya, DC. (Spermacoce Poaya, var. a, 
St. Hilaire). 
Another of the emetic roots in Brazil is the produce of 
a small fine-flowered twiner belonging to the Cinchona¬ 
ceec, called Manettia cordifolia. The genus was named 
after Xavier Manetti, Professor of Botany in Florence, 
who published, in 1751, a work on Italian fruit trees. 
Manettia, Mut.— Limb of calyx 4-5 lobed, often with 
secondary ones; corolla funnel-shaped, 4-5 lobed limb ; 
anthers sessile, in throat of corolla; capsule ovate 
crowned with calyx lobes; peltate seeds.— M. cordifolia, 
Mart. (Bot. Reg., t. 1866). Native of Brazil, banks of 
the Arroyo de la China, a stream which enters the Uru¬ 
guay, Entre Rios; hedges in the province of Minas- 
Geraes, near 'Villa Rica. Bark of root esteemed in 
Brazil as a valuable remedy in dysentery; dose, 5ss to 
5jss. It is also used as an emetic. 
We now come to another Natural Order, which fur¬ 
nishes plants having the properties of Ipecacuan, viz., 
the Order Violaceee. Emetic properties are found in the 
roots of some of the common violets, such as V. canina 
and V. sylvatica ; but it is especially in the genus Ioni- 
dium (tor a violet, and IStor peculiar) that properties like 
those of the real ipecacuan occur. 
Ion id item, Vent.—Sepals 5, not prolonged at the base ; 
corolla unequal, 2-lipped, 5 petals, lowest very large 
with a spur; 5 stamens unequal, 2 anterior with appen- 
diculate anthers; sepals, petals, and stamens remain 
covering the capsule. 
I. Ipecacuanha, Aug. St. Hil. ( Viola Itubu, Aubl.; 
Ionidium Itubu, H.B.K.; Pombalia Itubu, DC.), w r oods 
of Brazil, where it is called Poaya branca and Poaya de 
Praga. — Leaves alternate, lanceolate-ovate; stipules 
ovate-lanceolate, acute; lower petals very large; root 
emetic. 
Several other Ionidiums possess emetic’properties, as— 
Ionidium Poaya, Aug. St. Hil., Minas-Geraes, in 
Brazil; called Poaya de Campo. I. microphyllum, H.B.K., 
Curichunchulli, * Companion to tho Botanical Magazine,’ 
i. 278. Quito, near foot of Chimborazo ; specially used 
in elephantiasis tuberculata. I. parviflorvm , Vent., Tr. 
Mad. Bot. Soc. i. 206. I. brevicaule , Mart.; I. urticce - 
folium, Mart. These arc all Brazilian species. 
The Natural Order Polygalaceec supplies a plant which 
is called a Poaya or Ipecacuan, viz., Polygala Poaya , 
Spix and Martius. The root is perennial, perpendicular, 
or slightly oblique, 3-5 inches long, and the size of a 
writing quill at the top, attenuated dow'nwards and to¬ 
wards the base, divided into spreading branches, twisted 
in a vermicular manner, contracted at different parts, 
and marked by cicatrices ; the epidermis pale ochre colour, 
sometimes transversely striated, with a pale spongy cor¬ 
tical portion ; at first having a sweetish taste, but after¬ 
wards becoming bitter, and a central ligneous wdiite 
thread, thicker than the bark. On mountain plains of 
San Paulo and Minas. 
