Carapichea ipecacuanha

Carapichea ipecacuanha
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Rubiaceae
Genus:	Carapichea
Species:	C. ipecacuanha
Binomial name
Carapichea ipecacuanha (Brot.) L.Andersson
Synonyms
Callicocca ipecacuanha Cephaelis ipecacuanha Evea ipecacuanha Psychotria ipecacuanha Uragoga ipecacuanha

Carapichea ipecacuanha is a species of flowering plant in the Rubiaceae family. Its common name, Ipecacuanha, is derived from the Tupi i-pe-kaa-guéne, which translates to "road-side sick-making plant". The plant has been discussed under a variety of synonyms over the years by various botanists. The roots are used to make syrup of ipecac, a powerful emetic.

The part of ipecacuanha used in medicine is the root, which is simple or divided into a few branches, flexuous, and is composed of rings of various size, somewhat fleshy when fresh, and appearing as if closely strung on a central woody cord. The different kinds known in commerce (gray, red, brown) are all produced by the same plant, the differences arising from the age of the plant, the mode of drying, etc. Various other plants are used as substitutes for it.^{[citation needed]}

Ipecacuanha contains the pseudo-tannin ipecacuanhic acid or cephaëlic acid.^[1]

History

Ipecacuanha was known to Europe by the mid 17th century. Nicholas Culpeper, an English botanist, herbalist, and physician, compared Ipecacuanha to the herb Orach in his book, Complete Herbal & English Physician, published in 1653. One of the first recorded shipments of Ipecacuanha to Europe was in 1672, by a traveler named Legros. Legros imported some quantity of the root to Paris from South America. In 1680, a Parisian merchant named Garnier possessed some 68 kilograms (150 pounds) of the substance and informed the physician Claude Adrien Helvétius of its power in the treatment of dysentery. Helvetius was granted sole right to vend the remedy by Louis XIV, but sold the secret to the French government, who made the formula public in 1688.

Ipecacuanha has a long history of use as an emetic, for emptying the stomach in cases of poisoning. It has also been used as a nauseant, expectorant, and diaphoretic, and was prescribed for conditions such as bronchitis. The most common and familiar preparation is syrup of ipecac, which was commonly recommended as an emergency treatment for accidental poisoning until the final years of the 20th century.^[2] Ipecacuanha was also traditionally used to induce sweating. A common preparation for this purpose was Dover's powder.

Ipecacuanha has been used since the 18th century as a major remedy within homeopathic medicine, where it is employed for a wide range of conditions, in varying dosages.

In the 19th Century, women prisoners at the Cascades Female Factory, Tasmania, were routinely given "a grain or so of ipecacuanha" as a precaution, especially "upon ladies with gross health and fiery temperaments" (Daniels 129).

Similar plants

Ipecacuanha is a slow-growing plant, which reduces its commercial appeal as a crop plant. It is seldom cultivated in South America but it has been cultivated in India and elsewhere.

The following plants have been used as substitutes for ipecacuanha.^{[citation needed]}

• Euphorbia ipecacuanhae, wild ipecacuanha from North America
• Sarcostemma glaucum, a Venezuelan plant of the Apocynaceae family
• Tylophora asthmatica, in India
• Gillenia stipulata, American ipecac
• Richardsonia pilosa, Richardsonia rosea, Psychotria emetica and various species of Ionidium have been used too

Appearances in popular culture

• Ipecacuanha was the name of the ship that initially rescued the character Edward Prendick in the novel The Island of Doctor Moreau written by H. G. Wells. The ship he had been on, the Lady Vain, collided with rocks, and he was left to float in a dinghy until he was rescued eight days later.
• Lord Peter Wimsey's sister takes ipecacuanha to appear sick in the Dorothy Sayers mystery novel Clouds of Witness, 1926.
• Guybrush Threepwood used Ipecacuanha syrup (made by combining a flower from the Ipecacuanha with maple syrup) in order to escape from the giant snake that swallowed him in Monkey Island 3: The Curse of Monkey Island video game.
• Ipecac Recordings, http://www.ipecac.com is an independent music label which aims to "purge you of the drek that's been rotting in your tummies".
• The rake Lovelace takes ipecacuanha to feign illness and trick the titular character into caring for him in the novel, Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady, an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, published in 1748

References

Daniels, Kay. Convict Women. Allen & Unwin, 1998, p. 129.

1. ^ Ipecacuanha on www.henriettesherbal.com
2. ^ "Policy statement: Poison treatment in the home". Pediatrics 112 (5): 1182–1185. November 2003. doi:10.1542/peds.112.5.1182. PMID 14595067. http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;112/5/1182. 

External links

Therapeutic classification

• R05CA04