Ipecacuanha was a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family but is no longer recognized. It has been sunk into synonymy with Psychotria.
The name also refers to:
Ipecacuanha, a drug, the dried root of Cephaelis ipecacuanha, a plant from Brazil. The ipecacuanha from that country is called annulated, to distinguish it from the striated kind from Peru. The active ingredients reside chiefly in the cortex. It contains a feeble alkaloid called ceretin. Its preparations are pills, powders, lozenges, and wine. In large doses it is an emetic; in smaller ones it is an expectorant and an restorative. It is considered a specific in dysentery. Made into an ointment, it is a counter-irritant.
Ipecacuanha is used to refer to plants which produce this drug, which include the plant mentioned and others.
Ipecacuanha, the name of the ship that is captained by a Davis in H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896).
