Flora Medica

CINCHONACE.S.892. B. ferruginea DC. prodr. iv. 547. Spermacoce ferrugineaAug. de St. Hit. pi us. 13. t. 13 Pastures in Brazil,in the provinces of the Mines and St. Paulo.Stem hard, erect, branched, herbaceous. Branches quadrangular,hairy with rufous down. Leaves oblong, acute, obliquely 3-4-veined,scabrous above, pale beneath and rough with hairs on the principalveins. Stipules with their bristles as long as the sheath. Whorls offlowers globose, terminal and axillary. Flowers pink or white, withtheir lobes hairy at the apex. Capsule downy, crowned with the 4-subulate teeth of the calyx. Root emetic like that of CephaelisIpecacuanha.893. B. Poaya DC. prodr. iv. 54-9 Spermacoce Poayavar. a, Aug. de St. Hil. pi. us. bras. t. 12. Upland plains in theProvince of Mines in Brazil, common.Quite smooth. Stem herbaceous, simple, 4-cornered. Leaves sessile,oblong-elliptical, acute, with 6 oblique veins on each side. Stipulessplit into numerous long bristles, Flowers blue, with the points of thelobes hairy. Whorls capitate, sessile, axillary, few in number, theupper one the largest. Lobes of calyx 4, linear-lanceolate, acute, longerthan the ovary. Corolla nearly smooth. Anthers protruding. Rootemetic, substituted for Ipecacuanha. Leaves at first sweet, but afterwardsacid ;a decoction of them is used in the cure of colic.RICHARDSONIA.Limb of calyx of 4-7 unequal teeth, without any intermediateaccessory ones. Corolla funnel-shaped, with an obconical tube,and a 3-5-lobed spreading valvate limb. Stamens 3-5, exserted.Style 3-4-cleft at the apex. Capsule at first crowned by thecalyx afterwards cut round the base and dropping off ; ; containing3-4 1 -seeded membranous indehiscent kernels. Seedssolitary, peltate. Decumbent American herbaceous plants.Roots woody, nearly simple. Stipules multifid. Flowers capitate.894. R. scabra Mart. spec. mat. med. bras. x. t. 9. f. 13 and 14.Aug. de St. Hil. pi. us. bras. t. 8. DC. prodr. iv. 567. Richardiascabra Willd. ii. 222. Richardia brasiliensis Gomez mem.in Diet. sc. med.Ipecac, c. ic. Richardsonia brasiliensis Vireyvi. 345. c. ic. Richardia pilosa HBK. iii. 350. t. 279. Spermacocehexandra Ach. Rich. hist. nat. ipecac, p. 13. Spermacocehirsuta R. and S. iii. 531. Brazil, New Granada, Vera Cruz,Peru, &c.Stems prostrateor ascending, a foot and more long, hairy, branchednear the ground. Leaves obovate, obtuse or apiculate, ovate, oroblong, pale green, rough with whitish hairs. Flowers white, 20 ormore in a hemispherical head, surrounded with 3 or 4- floral leaves likethose of the stem. Calyx-teeth 6, triangular, nearly equal, membranousand hairy at the edge. Corolla slightly ventricose in the middle.The root is imported as a substitute for Ipecacuanha, and forms theundulated, amylaceous,or white Ipecacuanha of pharmaceutical writers.It does not contain, according to Pelletier, more than 6 per cent, ofEmetina.444