ON THE ASCLEPIAS CURASSAVICA. 
19 
ART. V.— ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE ASCLEPIAS CURAS- 
SAVICA. OR BASTARD IPECACUANHA. 
By W. HamiltoNj M. B. 
Among the most frequent weeds which infest, the pastures 
in most of the West Indian islands, Nevis and St. Kuts more 
especially, there are few more attractive to the eye, or more 
injurious to the cattle that feed upon it. than the Asclepias 
curassavica, known to the English inhabitants by the names 
of Bastard Ipecacuanha or Redhead; the former of these 
names being derived from the emetic property of its roots, 
and the latter from the colour of its umbel of flowers. 
The Bastard Ipecacuanha is a plant with an herbaceous 
stem of from one to three feet in height, abounding in a 
milky sap, bearing umbels of bright red flowers to be met 
with at all periods of the year. Browne and Swartz both 
speak of a variety with white blossoms, common in the 
cooler parts of Jamaica. But I found an Asclepias with 
blossoms of this description growing in the immediate vi- 
cinity of Cape Henri, Hayti, which possessed characters suf- 
ficiently distinct from the Asclepias curassavica, and which 
appeared, as far as my experience went, to be invariably 
and unchangeably perpetuated from its own seed, a charac- 
ter not altogether consistent with the commonly received 
idea of a variety. Among other differences which must 
distinguish the Asclepias nivea from the Asclepias curas- 
savica, independent of the colour of the blossoms and the 
general appearance of the plants, is the form of the leaves, 
which I have observed in the latter to be almost invariably 
ovate lanceolate, and in the former as invariably linear-lan- 
ceolate ; such at least was the remark entered in my notes 
at the time ; as, although the Asclepias curassavica with its 
red blossoms is a sufficiently common inmate of our collec- 
tions in Europe, it has never been my fortune to meet a plant 
