ipecacs

Noun

ipecac (countable and uncountable, plural ipecacs)

1. The dried rhizome and roots of either of two tropical American plants (Cephaelis acuminata and Cephaelis ipecacuanha) of the madder family used especially as a source of emetine.
2. An emetic and expectorant drug that contains emetine and is prepared from ipecac especially as a syrup for use in treating accidental poisoning.
   • Mary Reynolds could list her physician-owner's entire materia medica (the common term for pharmacological supplies) for slaves in one breathː "Dr. Kilpatrick gave sick [slaves] ipecac and asafoetide and oil and turpentine and black fever pills.2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Southern Discomfort”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 66

   Synonyms:

   syrup of ipecac

3. The shrub that produces ipecac (Cephaelis ipecacuanha), native to Brazil and cultivated elsewhere.