128. Euphorbia Ipecacuanha, Linn.—Ipecacuanha Spurge.
(Radix.)
This plant (also called American Ipecacuanha) is a native of the United States of America. The dried root (radix euphorbiae ipecacuanhae; vel rad. ipecacuanhae spuriae albae) is cylindrical, grayish yellow, inodorous, and has a sweetish, not unpleasant taste. According to Dr. Bigelow, it contains caoutchouc, resin, gum, and probably starch. Its active principle is perhaps resin. This root is "an energetic, tolerably certain emetic, rather milder than E. corollata, but, like that, disposed to act upon the bowels, and liable, if given in over doses, to produce excessive nausea and vomiting, general prostration, and alarming hypercatharsis. It is, therefore, wholly unfit to supersede ipecacuanha." [United States Dispensatory.] The dose of the powdered root is from ten to fifteen grains. In small doses it is diaphoretic.
