Cephaelis
(from kephale, a head; in reference to the arrangement of the flowers). ORD. Rubiaceoe. Stove shrubs, rarely perennial herbs, mostly natives of tropical America, a few African, and two or three from Asia and Oceania. Heads of flowers terminal or axillary, sessile or pedunculate, subtended by an involucre of from two to eight bracts, which are disposed in a cruciately opposite manner; corolla funnel-shaped. Leaves ovate, acute, petiolate; stipules free or combined. They thrive in a compost of sandy, fibry peat, leaf soil, and lumpy loam, with thorough drainage. Cuttings of firm young shoots will root in sandy soil, under a hand glass, in moist stove heat. C. Ipecacuanha (Ipecacuanha).* fl. white, downy outside; heads terminal, pedunculate, erect at first, but at length becoming pendulous. January. l. oblong-ovate, scabrous above, and clothed with fine down beneath. Stems ascending at first, but at length becoming erect, rather downy at the apex. h. 6in. Brazil, 1839. Stove herbaceous. The root of this plant has long been employed for medicinal purposes. (B. M. 4063.) C. tomentosa (downy).* fl. brownish; heads on long peduncles; bracts of involucre scarlet, large, broad, ovate-cordate. June. Branches, petioles, peduncles, leaves, and involucre, hairy. h. 4ft. Tropical America, 1882. Stove shrub. (B. M. 6696.) Many other species are well worth growing, but are either lost to cultivation or await introduction.