Why is ipecac production vital?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
January 7, 2003
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Suggested Reading—>Click here.
As ipecac (Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Brotero) A. Richard) became increasingly used in Eurasia and North America to treat dysentery, other plants were substituted for the treatments and more emetic plants were discovered. A specimen sent to Linnaeus's son by José Celestino Mutis in 1764 was accepted without question as the true ipecacuanha. The specimen was not ipecac, but another species known to cause emesis and not effective against dysentery.
The identity of ipecac was finally solved in 1800 when Dr. Gomez with the Portuguese Navy returned to Lisbon from duty in Brazil. Gomez described and illustrated the plant and gave his notes to F.A. Brotero, a professor of botany. Brotero published the information in 1802, but somehow failed to include Gomez's name in the work. The plant was reclassified in 1814 by M. Tussac and again in 1820 by A. Richard; they did not credit Dr. Gomez either.
By the early 1800s, botanists realized the plants were becoming rare. John Uri Lloyd wrote of the ecological disaster, "The root is dug all the year round, but especially in the months of January and February, when it is in bloom. It is perhaps to be regretted that the collection is not postponed until May, when the fruit ripens, for then the scattered seeds would insure a new growth...owing to the vicious system of collection, the plant has become scarce in the vicinity of large cities." ("Cephaelis Ipecacuanha", John Uri Lloyd, Western Druggist, 1897)
In 1866, Joseph Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, sent a single Cephaelis ipecacuanha plant to "British Sikkim", India. The plant was slow to propagate and by 1872 had only increased its population to eleven plants. But in 1870, James McNab rediscovered something mentioned twenty-one years earlier by Hugh Weddell. If pieces of the plant are left on moist soil they will take root. Three hundred propagated ipecac plants were sent to India and in one season became a population of 6,000.
India is now the third largest producer of ipecac. Use of the drug was in decline with the advent of synthetic anti-amoebic medications, but a Food and Agriculture Organization (UN agency) report states that strains of amoebas are resistant to the synthetic drugs and ipecac is again in demand.
Raintree, has posted an excellent drawing of ipecac (Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Brotero) A. Richard), click on the link:
http://www.rain-tree.com/Plant-Images/cephaelis-pic.htm
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, has information on Ipecacuanha (Psychotria ipecacuanha). "The plant had been assigned different names by various botanists; several scientific names including Cephaelis acuminata, Cephaelis ipecacuanha, Psychotria ipecacuanha, and Uragoga ipecacuanha were used.", click on the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipecacuanha
Series: | 1 | | 2 | | 3 |
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
What is ipecac? Plants that Changed History - December 31, 2002
How was ipecac discovered? What's in a Name? - January 10, 2003
How did arsenic poisoning lead to Key limes? Plants that Changed History - February 18, 2003
How did settlers use wax myrtle? Herbal Folklore - October 27, 2003
How did dowsers use witch hazel? Herbal Folklore - March 8, 2004
What is khaki? Herbal Folklore - May 26, 2003
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