Chiretta is the herb and root of Agathotes Chirayta, Don; Gentiana Chirayta, Fleming; or Ophelia chirayta, a herbaceous plant, growing in the Himalaya mountains about Nepaul and the Morungs.

Ipecacuan.—­ Cephaelis Ipecacuanhae, Richard, yields the ipecacuan of the shops.  The plant is met with in the woods of several Brazilian provinces, as Pernambuco, Bahia and Rio Janeiro.  It is found growing in moist shady situations, from 8 to 20 degs. south latitude.  The roots, which are the officinal part, are contorted, knotty and annulated, and about the thickness of a goose quill.

Besides this brown or gray annulated ipecacuan, there are spurious kinds, such as the striated or black Peruvian, the produce of Pyschotria elliptica, and other species; and white or amylaceous ipecacuan, furnished by Richardsonia scabra, an herbaceous perennial, native of the provinces of Rio Janeiro and Minas Geraes. Manettia glabra or cordifolia, also furnishes ipecacuan in Buenos Ayres.  It is imported into this country from Rio in bales, barrels, bags, and serons, and the average annual imports in the eight years ending in 1841 were 10,000 lbs.  In 1840, the shipments from Rio were as much as 20,000 lbs.

Castelnau states, that one expert hand can gather 15 lbs. of the ipecacuan root in a day, which will fetch in Rio one dollar per pound.  He estimates that, from 1830 to 1837, not less than 800,000 lbs. of this drug were exported from the province of Matto Grosso to Rio.

Jalap.—­This drug is obtained from the dried tubers or root-stock of Ipomoea Jalapa or Convolvulus Jalapa, a perennial plant, native of America.  Some suppose it takes its specific name from Xalapa, in Mexico, whence we chiefly import it.  It grows in the woods near Chicanquiaco, at an altitude of 6,000 feet above the level of the sea.  Large quantities might be gathered and exported in Jamaica.  The root is of a roundish tuberous form, black externally, and of a deep, yellowish grey within, and varies in size from that of a walnut to that of a moderate sized turnip.  It contains a resin in which its active properties reside.  It is brought to this country in thin transverse slices, and the amount entered for home consumption is about 45,000 lbs. a year.  It is imported in bales, from Vera Cruz direct, or indirectly by way of New York, and other places.

Two sorts of jalap root occur in commerce.  The one which was first introduced into the market, and which is even at the present day most frequently met with, is obtained from the Ipomoea Schiedeana of Zuccarini, a plant growing on the eastern declivity of the Mexican Andes, and discovered by Von Schiedes.  The root, as met with in commerce, consists of pieces varying from the size of a nut to that of the fist, sometimes whole, sometimes cut into disks, and at other times divided into two or three portions.  The external surface is of a more or less dark gray brown color, corrugated and rough.  It is very hard, presents a shining resinous even surface when broken, and is difficult to reduce to powder.  The powder is of a brownish color, has a faint peculiar odor and irritant taste.