Ipecac is a small shrub growing about 50cm tall.The plant has been used medicinally by the native peoples of S.America for many centuries Its effectiveness against amoebic dysentery was shown by a French doctor in the late 17th century and the plant is now often cultivated for its medicinal uses, being employed both by conventional and herbal doctors. It is a difficult plant to cultivate outside its natural rainforest habitat, attempts in southeast Asia have met with only
limited success