XXVI.—Remarks on the Ipecacuan Plant (Cephaëlis Ipecacuanha, Rich.), as cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

Abstract

The Ipecacuan plant, Cephaëlis Ipecacuanha of Achille Richard, has been cultivated in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden for upwards of forty years, but it was not propagated to any extent until 1870, when a proposal was made to attempt the cultivation of the plant in India. This suggestion was made on account of the continued destruction of the plant by the collectors in Brazil, and the risk of scarcity in the supply of this most valuable remedy for dysentery. The Secretary of State for India (His Grace the Duke of Argyll), under the recommendation of several medical officers in Bengal, authorised an attempt to propagate the plant in our Indian possessions, and with that view application was made to me and others to aid in this important undertaking. Accordingly, I at once set about the propagation of the plant in the Edinburgh Garden, with the assistance of Mr M'Nab the curator. He found that the plant could be multiplied very rapidly by dividing the annulated root, cuttings of which, though very small, give off young shoots when placed in favourable circumstances. By this means, numerous plants were produced very rapidly, and the method was also followed by the Messrs Lawson, Nurserymen, Edinburgh, who supplied a large stock of vigorous plants. Mr M'Nab drew up a report of his mode of propagation, which was printed, and distributed extensively to district officers in India and elsewhere. The paper also appeared in the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, vol. x. p. 318.