A low, straggling shrub, 40 cm in height. Rhizomes slender, 2 cm in diam, bearing horizontally spreading, 16 cm long, smooth, slender, knotty, white, fibrous roots when young, which on maturation develop into brick-red to very dark brown roots having thick corky bark with numerous closely placed transverse furrows, giving them an annulated or beaded appearance; stems and rhizomes bear longitudinal striations with a few elliptic scars; leaves oblong-ovate, elliptic or obovate, 5-9 cm x 2.5-5.5 cm; flowers white, arranged in heads on solitary terminal peduncles; berries dark purple, black when ripe, in clusters, each containing two, whitish, plano-convex seeds.

Emetic in large doses (root); induces nausea in intermediate doses; diaphoretic and expectorant in small doses; anti-irritant for skin.

Cephaelis ipecacuanha
The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy.

Ipecoside, cephaline and emetine (plant); ipecacuanhic acid and a small amount of foetid (a volatile oil).

Problems with nerves (plant);Amoebic dysentery, morning sickness, indigestion,as an expectorant in pulmonary diseases such as bronchitis and whooping cough, cures chronic constipation and biliousness, facilitates digestion and uterine hemorrhages, for treating systemic poisoning (syrup)

Large doses or prolonged use it may be irritant to the whole gastro-intestinal tract and may produce vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea, hypotension, dyspnoea, headache, giddiness, weakness, stiffness of muscles in the neck and limbs and neuritis.

Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.