Quinine
StarCinchona pubescens
Synonyms: Cinchona succirubra var. conglomerata, Quinquina pubescens, Cinchona cordifolia var. macrocarpa, Cinchona caloptera, Quinquina ovata, Cinchona chomeliana, Cinchona elliptica, Cinchona pubescens var. pelletieriana, Cinchona subsessilis, Cinchona succirubra var. vera, Cinchona howardiana, Cinchona ovata var. rufinervis, Cinchona succirubra var. spruceana, Cinchona purpurea, Cinchona lutea, Cinchona pallescens var. ovata, Cinchona purpurascens, Cinchona morado, Cinchona rubicunda, Quinquina obovata, Cinchona rugosa, Cinchona succirubra var. erythroderma, Cinchona rotundifolia, Cinchona cordifolia var. rotundifolia, Cinchona cordifolia var. peruviana, Cinchona ovata, Cinchona lechleriana, Cinchona pelalba, Cinchona ovata var. vulgaris, Cinchona colorata, Cinchona pubescens var. cordata, Cinchona obovata, Cinchona cordifolia var. vera, Cinchona goudotiana, Cinchona succirubra, Cinchona decurrentifolia, Cinchona cordifolia, Cinchona pallescens, Cinchona govana, Cinchona succirubra var. cuchicara, Cinchona palescens, Cinchona rufinervis, Cinchona tucujensis, Cinchona pubescens var. purpurea, Cinchona coronulata, Cinchona rosulenta, Cinchona platyphylla, Cinchona pelletieriana, Cinchona pubescens var. ovata, Quinquina succirubra, Cinchona cordifolia var. microcarpa
Western Herbalism Properties
Traditional Uses
The bark of red cinchona is the original source of quinine, a remedy with deep roots in Andean South America. Quechua peoples of the eastern Andes are traditionally credited with knowledge of the bitter 'fever bark', which Spanish Jesuit missionaries encountered and exported to Europe in the seventeenth century, where it became famous as 'Jesuit's bark' or 'Peruvian bark' and the standard treatment for malarial fevers (Markham, 1880; Duran-Reynals, 1946). The isolation of quinine from the bark in 1820 by Pelletier and Caventou established it as the principal antimalarial drug for more than a century, and the related alkaloid quinidine became an important antiarrhythmic agent. The intensely bitter bark was also valued in Western and Eclectic herbal practice as a digestive bitter and tonic.
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Botanical Description
Cinchona pubescens, the red cinchona or quinine tree, is an evergreen tree in the family Rubiaceae, native to the Andean forests of northwestern South America from Colombia and Ecuador to Peru and Bolivia, where it grows in humid montane cloud forest. It reaches 5 to 15 metres or more in height, with reddish, bitter bark and large, opposite, broadly elliptic leaves that often turn red with age and bear tufts of hairs (domatia) in the vein axils beneath. The fragrant flowers are tubular, pink to reddish, with hairy-margined lobes, borne in branched terminal clusters, and are followed by small ovoid woody capsules containing numerous winged seeds. The bark is the historic commercial source of the antimalarial alkaloid quinine and of quinidine. Widely introduced to tropical plantations, the species has become a serious invasive weed in some areas, most notably the Galápagos Islands, where it forms dense stands that displace native highland vegetation.
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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