Flora Medica

CINCHONACEjE.All over rough with yellow down. Leaves narrow elliptical, shortstalked,either acute at the point or rounded with a mucro, rathernarrowed to the base. Corymbs contracted into a panicle, DC.Reputed to be, when administered in small doses, a powerful diuretic,and used both in human and veterinary medicine. Burnett.883. P. diuretica Mart. "\884. P. strepens Mart. I are said to have the same proper-885. P. sonans Mart.as(tiesthe last.886. P. longifolia HBK.}CEPH^ELIS.Heads of flowers inclosed in a large 2-8-leaved involucre.Limb of calyx very short, 5-toothed. Corolla funnel-shaped,with 5 small lobes. Anthers inclosed. Stigma bifid, usuallyexserted. Berry obovate-oblong, crowned with the remains ofthe calyx, 2-celled, 2-seeded. Shrubs and herbs, natives ofSouth America.887. C. Ipecacuanha Richard, f. bull, de la fac. med. 1818.iv. 98. Martius spec. mat. med. bras. v. 1. 1 . DC. prodr. iv. 535.Callicocca Ipecacuanha. Broter. in linn, trans, vi. 137. 1. 11.Woods of Brazil. Mountains of New Granada. (Ipecacuanha.)Root perennial, simple, or divided into a few diverging branches,seldom more than from 4 to 6 inches long, about as thick as a goosequill,ringed, when fresh pale brown, when dry umber-coloured, blackishumber-coloured, or greyish brown ;the cortical integument with areddish resinous glittering fracture, and readily separating from acentral woody axis. Stem suffruticose, from 2 to 3 feet long, ascending,often rooting near the ground, smooth and cinereous at the base,downy and green near the apex. Leaves seldom more than 4-6 on astem, opposite, oblong-obovate, acute, 3-4 inches long, 1-2 broad,roughish with hairs ; petioles short, downy ; stipules erect, appressed,membranous, 4-6-cleft. Peduncles solitary, axillary, downy, erectwhen in flower, reflexed when in fruit, about 1 inch long. Flowerscapitate ;involucre 1-leafed, spreading, deeply 4r-6-parted, with obovate,acuminate, ciliated segments. Bracts to each flower one, obovateoblong,acute, downy. Calyx minute, obovate ;with 5 bluntish shortteeth. Corolla white, funnel-shaped ;tube cylindrical, downy on theoutside and at the orifice ;limb shorter than the tube, with 5 ovatereflexed segments. Stamens 5 ; filaments filiform, white, smooth,anthers linear, longer than the filaments, projecting a little beyond thecorolla. Ovary with a fleshy disk at the apex ; style filiform ; stigmas 2,linear. Berry ovate, about the size of a kidney bean, dark violet,crowned by the small calyx, 2-celled, 2-seeded, with a longitudinalfleshy dissepiment. Nucules plano-convex, furrowed on the flat side.The well-known emetic root called Ipecacuanha is obtained fromthis plant. In commerce it is called the annulated, Brazilian or LisbonIpecacuanha, to distinguish it from the roots of other emetic plants alsocollected in Brazil for officinal use. It is chiefly used as an emetic,sudorific and expectorant. Its powder acts upon the respiratory passagesas an irritant, producing spasmodic asthma. In some cases themere odour of the root seems sufficient to excite difficulty of breathing,with a feeling of suffocation. Pereira.442