CEPHAELIS IPECACUANHA. 
139 
It is this part of the Brazils which now wholly maintains 
the European commerce of it. 
The appearance presented by the forests in which the Ce- 
phaelis grows is not easily forgotten. Nearly all those of 
Matto-Grosso are situated in the basin of Rio-Paraguay, or 
its tributaries, about the small village of Villa-Maria. Gen- 
erally, however, the plant does not grow in the immediate 
vicinity of rivers, as the periodical inundations to which 
these are subjected, are unfavorable to its free vegetation. 
It is in situations where a slight elevation of land pre- 
serves it from these submersions, that the Cephaelis is 
mostly met with. It grows in the shade of those majestic 
trees which constitute the intertropical forests, and more 
particularly in the moist sand, impregnated with vegetable 
remains, which borders on the marshes planted with Mauri- 
tia, Iriartea y and tree ferns. 
In size the Cephaelis is scarcely equal to the small daphne 
of our woods, which it slightly resembles ; it rarely grows 
alone, but almost always in small clumps, that the collectors 
of Poaya, or as they are called Poayeros, known by the 
name of Redoleros. 
The method adopted in collecting the root of the Cephaelis 
is as follows: The Poayero grasps in one hand, if pos- 
sible, all the stems forming one of these clumps, whilst with 
the other he pushes under the roots a pointed stick giving 
it a swinging motion. By this means the earth surrounding 
the roots gives way, and when the operation is performed 
with dexterity, they are all withdrawn at the same time, 
and almost always without fracture. The Poayero then 
separates the portion required, and places it in a bag carried 
for the purpose; he then proceeds to the next clump, and 
so on. An ordinary workman may collect in a day about 
from three to six kilogrammes of ipecacuanha, which in 
desiccation loses about half its weight. This latter opera- 
tion takes place in powerful sunshine. 
The propagation of the Cephaelis is by seed ; but in 
