Page 214 - Pharmacognosy 2 PG303

Pharmacognosy-2 (PG303) Level 2 Clinical Pharmacy-Pharm D

It contains not more than 2% of foreign organic matter and yields not less
than 2% of total alkaloids calculated as emetine, of which not less than 60% consists
of non-phenolic alkaloids calculated as emetine.

It is obtained from Brazil (collected in the wild), and to a smaller extent
from Central American countries, such as Costa-Rica and Nicaragua.
Ipecacuanha is derived from the Brazilian Indian term, ipekaaguene, meaning
creeping plant and acuminata from the acute apex of the leaf.

Rio Ipeca is the highly prized commercial variety. It is now cultivated rather
than Brazil, in Bengal, Burma, Malay and Singapore. The Cartagena drug is
exported from Columbia, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Ipecacuanha. .'A, Rio ipecacuanha root; B, Cartagena
ipecacuanha root; C, rhizome of Rio ipecacuanha; D, transverse
section of C;. a, annulations; c, cambium; ck, cork ; cf. cortex
; m, pith; p, pericycle; ph, phloem; r, ridge ; rt, root; rz, rhizome;
w, woody cylinder denuded of bark; xy, xylem.

Collection and preparation
The drug is collected from wild and cultivated plants. The collector, using a
pointed stick, levers the plant from the ground and, having removed most of the
roots, replaces it in the ground where it usually lives to produce further crops. He
inserts the pointed stick beneath the plant roots, and the earth is shaken off. The
roots are dried in the sun or over fires and transported down river to ports as
Rio de Janeiro and exported in bales.

Macroscopical Characters
The plants are low-straggling shrubs with slender rhizornes bearing annulated wiry
roots. Odor, faint, characteristic, irritating and sternutatory when in fine powder;
Taste, bitter and acrid.
Rio or Brazilian Ipeca Root occurs in sub-cylindrical, slightly tortuous pieces,

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