Ipecacuanha
Ipecac
- Known today as
- The root of Carapichea ipecacuanha of Brazil.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- emetine, cephaeline
- Earliest authority here
- Louis XIV
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Caution. Toxic to the heart in repeated doses.
Ipecacuanha: what was it used for?
A vomit, and in small doses against the bloody flux.
Ipecacuanha: what does modern science say?
Its emetine does cause vomiting and acts against amoebic dysentery. Syrup of ipecac is no longer advised for poisoning.
Ipecacuanha: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. Toxic to the heart in repeated doses. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- Emetine irritates the stomach and acts on the vomiting centre; it also inhibits protein synthesis, which made it the first drug against amoebic dysentery and makes it a poison to the heart.
- Checked against ChEMBL
- emetine: No measurement in ChEMBL for “inhibits protein synthesis” (1350 activities recorded, none against the target named); the line rests on its references.
- Toxic dose
- Syrup of ipecac in bottles of 30 ml was in every American home from 1965; chronic use by bulimic patients has caused fatal cardiomyopathy, as in the singer Karen Carpenter in 1983.
- Standing
- The American Academy of Pediatrics withdrew its advice to keep ipecac at home in 2003, and the FDA considered removing it from sale; emetine is no longer used for amoebiasis.
- American Academy of Pediatrics (2003). “Poison treatment in the home.” Pediatrics 112. Verified against its record · doi:10.1542/peds.112.5.1182
- Schiff, R. J., et al. (1986). “Death due to chronic syrup of ipecac use in a patient with bulimia.” Pediatrics 78. Verified against its record · doi:10.1542/peds.78.3.412
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Ipecacuanha: what lore surrounds it?
The name is Portuguese-adapted Tupi, i-pe-kaa-guéne, “roadside sick-making plant,” from its long use among the peoples of Brazil before a Portuguese friar recorded it as a remedy for dysentery late in the sixteenth century. It stayed obscure in Europe until 1672, when a traveler named Legros brought the root to Paris; the merchant Garnier later bought a large stock and interested the physician Helvétius, whose patent cure so impressed Louis XIV that the crown bought the formula for 1,000 louis d’or and published it in 1688. Its botanical identity stayed disputed for another century, until a Portuguese naval physician brought authentic specimens to Lisbon in 1800.
Ipecacuanha: what did the older authorities say?
- Louis XIV
- Paid a physician, Helvétius, for his secret remedy for the flux after it cured the Dauphin, and made it public: the remedy was ipecacuanha.
Sources
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal. Read in part · the text read
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Ipecacuanha.” Book, not indexed
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- The mechanism read against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37): curated mechanisms and measured activity
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 read in part, 2 verified against its record, 1 book, not indexed. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Ipecacuanha.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/ipecacuanha.
- MLA
“Ipecacuanha.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/ipecacuanha. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Ipecacuanha. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/ipecacuanha
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See Also
Sharing emetine
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve
Nearby in the alphabet
Iron and steel (given as filings in wine, as its rust, or in chalybeate spring waters) · INRI · Isinglass · Indian electuary, greater and lesser (the greater and the lesser) · Iva (Ajuga iva) · Indian and Arabian pills (Two named compound pills of the Arabic-Latin tradition) · Jack-o’-lantern
Historical description, not medical advice.