Ipecacuanha

ipecac

 or ipecacuanha

Dried rhizome and roots of either of two tropical New World plants (Cephaelis acuminata and C. ipecacuanha) of the madder family. It has been used since ancient times especially as a source of a drug to treat poisoning by inducing nausea and vomiting. The name also refers to the drug itself.

---

ipecacuanha, ipecac

1. a low-growing South American rubiaceous shrub, Cephaelis ipecacuanha

2. a drug prepared from the dried roots of this plant, used as a purgative and emetic

---

Ipecacuanha 

(Cephaëlis ipecacuanha ), a small shrub of the family Rubiaceae, growing wild in Brazil’s tropical rainforests and cultivated in the tropics of both hemispheres. The stem length is 15–40 cm and can be as much as 60 cm. The leaves are opposite; the small flowers are gathered into hemispherical heads; and the roots have beadlike bulges. Ipecacuanha roots (and the roots of C. acuminata, which are similar in chemical composition) contain 2–3 percent alkaloids (emetine, cephaeline, and others) and are used in medicine as an expectorant. They are used to make extracts, water and alcohol infusions, and syrups. In small doses they cause thinning and discharge of phlegm; in large doses they act as an emetic.

REFERENCE

Atlas lekarstvennykh rastenii SSSR. Moscow, 1962.