Search the Dictionary

A native or an inhabitant of Peru. Peruvian balsam. See Balsam of Peru, under Balsam. -- Peruvian bark, the bitter bark of trees of various species of Cinchona. It acts as a powerful tonic, and is a remedy for malarial diseases. This property is due to several alkaloids, as quinine, cinchonine, etc., and their compoun…

Specifically, Peruvian bark. Bark bed. See Bark stove (below). -- Bark pit, a pit filled with bark and water, in which hides are steeped in tanning. -- Bark stove (Hort.), a glazed structure for keeping tropical plants, having a bed of tanner's bark (called a bark bed) or other fermentable matter which produces a moi…

und in the intestines of certain ruminant animals (as the wild goat, the gazelle, and the Peruvian llama) formerly regarded as an unfailing antidote for poison, and a certain remedy for eruptive, pestilential, or putrid diseases. Hence: Any antidote or panacea.

A valuable kind of Peruvian bark obtained from the Cinchona Calisaya, and other closely related species.

any species of cinchona containing three per cent. or more of bitter febrifuge alkaloids; Peruvian bark; Jesuits' bark.

cteristic of that from which it is obtained; as, quinine is the most important extract of Peruvian bark.

A plant of the genus Heliotropium; -- called also turnsole and girasole. H. Peruvianum is the commonly cultivated species with fragrant flowers.

The name also given to Scilla Peruviana, a Mediterranean plant, one variety of which produces white, and another blue, flowers; -- called also, from a mistake as to its origin, Hyacinth of Peru.

act of the root. Many other plants are used as a substitutes; among them are the black or Peruvian ipecac (Psychotria emetica), the white ipecac (Ionidium Ipecacuanha), the bastard or wild ipecac (Asclepias Curassavica), and the undulated ipecac (Richardsonia scabra).

Fig.: A crafty person; an intriguer. Jesuits' bark, Peruvian bark, or the bark of certain species of Cinchona; -- so called because its medicinal properties were first made known in Europe by Jesuit missionaries to South America. -- Jesuits' drops. See Friar's balsam, under Friar. -- Jesuits' nut, the European water…

oil, used for plastering walls, etc. Barbary mastic (Bot.), the Pistachia Atlantica. -- Peruvian mastic tree (Bot.), a small tree (Schinus Molle) with peppery red berries; -- called also pepper tree. -- West Indian mastic (Bot.), a lofty tree (Bursera gummifera) full of gum resin in every part.

A Peruvian plant (Piper, or Artanthe, elongatum), allied to the pepper, the leaves of which are used as a styptic and astringent.

A Peruvian name for certain species of Oxalis (O. crenata, and O. tuberosa) which bear edible tubers.

A divinity worshiped by the ancient Peruvians as the creator of the universe.

of South American Indians, including the majority of the civilized tribes of the ancient Peruvian Empire with some wild tribes never subjugated by the Incas. Most of these Indians are short, but heavy and strong. They are brachycephalic and of remarkably low cranial capacity. Nevertheless, they represent one of the hi…

Peruvian bark.

A contrivance employed by the ancient Peruvians, Mexicans, etc., as a substitute for writing and figures, consisting of a main cord, from which hung at certain distances smaller cords of various colors, each having a special meaning, as silver, gold, corn, soldiers. etc. Single, double, and triple knots were tied in th…

The powerfully astringent root of a half-shrubby Peruvian plant (Krameria triandra). It is used in medicine and to color port wine. [Written also ratany.] Savanilla rhatany, the root of Krameria Ixina, a native of New Granada.

genera and over four thousand species. Among them are the coffee tree, the trees yielding peruvian bark and quinine, the madder, the quaker ladies, and the trees bearing the edible fruits called genipap and Sierre Leone peach, besides many plants noted for the beauty or the fragrance of their blossoms.…

An Indian of a linguistic stock of tribes of the Peruvian coast who had a developed agricultural civilization at the advent of the Spaniards, before which they had been conquered by the Incas. They constructed irrigation canals which are still in use, adorned their buildings with bas-reliefs and frescoes, and were skil…