Cinchona - definition of cinchona by The Free Dictionary Cinchona - definition of cinchona by The Free Dictionary (sĭng-kō′nə, sĭn-chō′-) n. 1. Any of various evergreen trees and shrubs of the genus Cinchona, native chiefly to the Andes, some species of which are cultivated for their bark, which contains quinine and other alkaloids used chiefly to treat malaria. 2. The dried bark of any of these plants. Also called Jesuit's bark, Peruvian bark. [New Latin Cinchona, genus name, reputedly after Francisca Henríquez de Ribera (1576-1639), Countess of Chinchón.] cin·chon′ic (sĭng-kŏn′ĭk, sĭn-chŏn′-) adj. cinchona (sɪŋˈkəʊnə) n 1. (Plants) any tree or shrub of the South American rubiaceous genus Cinchona, esp C. calisaya, having medicinal bark. Also called: quina or quinaquina 2.

(Pharmacology) Also called: cinchona bark, Peruvian bark, calisaya, china bark, quina or quinaquina the dried bark of any of these trees, which yields quinine and other medicinal alkaloids 3. (Pharmacology) any of the drugs derived from cinchona bark [C18: New Latin, named after the Countess of Chinchón (1576–1639), vicereine of Peru] cinchonic adj (sɪŋˈkoʊ nə, sɪn-) n., pl. -nas. 1. any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Cinchona, of the madder family, native to the Andes, esp. C. calisaya, whose bark yields quinine. 2. the medicinal bark of such trees or shrubs. [1740–50; < New Latin, after Francisca Enriques de Ribera, Countess of Chinchón (d. 1641), who was associated in several accounts (now considered spurious) with the introduction of quinine into Europe] cin•chon′ic (-ˈkɒn ɪk) adj.

cin·cho·na (sĭng-kō′nə, sĭn-chō′nə) Any of several evergreen trees and shrubs of South America whose bark is the source of quinine and certain other drugs used to treat malaria. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Cinchona Bark | University of Minnesota Libraries · University of Minnesota Libraries Bell Library Home General Information The Collection Exhibits & Projects Special Events Fellowships The Associates Make a Gift Publications K-12 Resources by Juliet Burba In 16th century Europe, the fevers of the common illness ague often resulted in death. No one was immune to the fevers  they indiscriminately killed peasants, kings, princes and popes. Although today it is commonly considered a disease of tropical lands, in the 17th century malaria affected vast parts of Europe, including Rome, Versailles and London. Early 17th-century ague patients had one principal cure available to them  bleeding. If bleeding was ineffective, the physician might try purging or the use of emetics. Even astrology might be employed as a cure, because the periodicity of malarial fevers suggested a connection with astronomical phenomena.

1 Some of the various names used for the fevers denoted their frequency of recurrence, such as tertian, quartan, semitertian, and double tertian. Although malaria was widespread and common, until the early 17th century European physicians had found no truly effective cure, and their patients continued to die. But in the 1630s a possible treatment was found in the forests of the Andes Mountains. In that decade, an Augustinian monk published a notice regarding the treatment, burying it in a work on the Augustinian Order. A tree grows which they call the fever tree in the country of Loxa, whose bark, of the color of cinnamon, made into powder amounting to the weight of two small silver coins and given as a beverage, cures the fevers and tertiana; it has produced miraculous results in Lima, wrote the monk, Antonio de Calancha. 2 Calancha was describing the bark of the cinchona tree; the bark contains the alkaloid quinine along with several other alkaloids effective against malaria. 3 Historians debate whether cinchona was an indigenous medicine or was discovered by Europeans.

Evidence suggests that malaria did not exist in the New World before the arrival of the Spanish. Thus, according to one author, native people knew nothing about the medicinal use of cinchona bark. He supports his claim by stating that the bark did not appear in early Inca pharmacopoeias as translated by the Spanish, but does not cite a source for that information. 4 However, even if malaria was not indigenous to South America, many years passed between the first arrival of the Spanish (and, presumably, malaria) and the earliest writings about cinchona by Europeans. This would have allowed the native people time to have developed a cure. Such a view is supported by the historian Lucile Brockway and by the semi-popular author M.L. Duran-Reynals, who points to the vast array of medicinal plants used by native healers and the large number of these plants transplanted to Europe from South and Central America at this time. Native plant remedies were so much more effective than the techniques of European physicians, writes Duran-Reynals, that Pizzaros soldiers preferred treatment from native healers.

5 6 According to Saul Jarcho, author of an exhaustive review of 17th and 18th century sources pertaining to the discovery and dissemination of cinchona, exportation of the Peruvian bark to Europe probably began in 1631 or 1632. 7 The Jesuit Order was the strongest promoter of the bark, and it was sometimes called Jesuits bark or powder. One Jesuit in particular played an important role in the dissemination of informatin about the antimalarial. The Jesuit Juan de Lugo (made cardinal in 1643) was entrusted by Pope Innocent X to learn more about the bark. Lugo had it tested by Gabrielle fonseca, a physician to the pope. Around the same time, in the late 1640s, directions for the use of the bark were published as the Schedula Romana. Although Duran-Reynals states that the work was published by the Jesuits, Jarcho is more cautious about naming an author and publisher, noting that there were several different editions and translations published around the same time.

8 Despite positive results and the backing of the Vatican, the use of cinchona was not universally adopted in 17th century Europe. Many factors contributed to the delay in acceptance. First, the bark often did not work. Cinchona could not cure all fevers, only those of malaria, so if the drug was used on a patient afflicted with some other disease, it appeared to be ineffective. Furthermore, unscrupulous dealers might sell inferior bark or the bark of some other tree, and after the long journey from New Spain to Europe the bark sometimes arrived too rotten to use. The use of cinchona also contradicted the teachings of the ancient author Galen, whose work most physicians still used. According to Galen, a patient with ague needed to release humors, making bleeding, purging, and the use of emetics the preferred treatments. The use of a hot, bitter drink seemed to conflict with both Galenic medicine and common sense. 9 Finally, the support of the Vatican for the drug worked against its acceptance in some regions, particularly in England. The close association of the drug with Catholicism made many Protestants fear it was part of a popish plot against them.

In the late 17th century, the Englishman Robert Talbor used these fears to make his name as a feverologist. Regarded by English physicians as a quack, he claimed to have a secret remedy for ague, but agreed with the prevailing opinion that Jesuits powder should be avoided. After successfully curing Charles II of malaria, he was sent to France to aid the royal family. Louis XIV bought the recipe for the cure, under the condition that he not read it until after Talbors death. When the recipe was published in 1682, the secret medicine was revealed  it was, of course, cinchona. 10 Despite fears of popish plots, professional rivalries, and questions about the effectiveness of the bark, importation began in the mid 17th century, and continued until the 19th century. The bark was harvested around what is now the Peruvian and Ecuadorian border. From there it was carried to Paita on the coast and transferred onto ships bound for Panama.

Once in Panama, it was carried north across the isthmus to Portobelo during the dry season, or taken via the Chagres River during the rainy season. At Portobelo the bark was once again loaded onto ships and sent to Spain via Havana. 11 Occasionally, smuggling also took place, but rather than transport the bark via the western seaboard, smugglers carried it eastward, across most of the continent, following the course of rivers to the Atlantic. 12 Once in Europe, the bark was distributed by a variety of means. Jesuits often gave it away, merchants sold it, and the nobility sometimes used it as gifts. According to Jarcho, the Spanish presented it to the empress of Hungary, Pope Clement XIV, the Duke of Parma, the electress of Bavaria, and the general commissioner of holy places in Jerusalem during the period 1772-86. 13 By the mid-19th century the Dutch and English began claiming that the South American supply of cinchona was threatened by the non-sustainable cutting practices of the indigenous harvesters. 14 As Brockway suggests, evidence did not necessarily back that claim.

In 1839, William Dawson Hooker, son of the renowned botanist William Jackson Hooker, wrote his dissertation on cinchona. He claimed that completely cutting the trees, rather than harvesting pieces of bark, was a better method, because insects would attack cinchona plants that had simply been debarked. On completely cut (or coppiced) plants, new growth quickly appeared, and could be harvested again in 6 years. Years later it was also discovered that cut and regrown cinchona had higher levels of the effective alkaloids in its bark, and this method of harvesting became common on many plantations. 15 The efficacy of indigenous harvesting methods suggests that the transfer of cinchona culture by the Dutch and English to plantations located in Southeast Asia occurred because of a desire to control the trade, and not because Native American practices caused a decline in cinchona growth. Without a large, steady supply of quinine, British and Dutch imperialism in India and Africa might have failed  without the antimalarial drug, vast numbers of British and Dutch administrators, military personnel and merchants in these lands would have been stricken and possibly killed by the disease.

The widespread use of cinchona came about because of the colonizing efforts of Europeans, and the drug, in turn, aided Europe in expanding its colonization even further. 16 Notes 1 . M.L. Duran-Reynals, The Fever Bark Tree: The Pageant of Quinine (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1946) PP. 15-16. 2 . Quoted in Duran-Reynals, 24. According to Duran-Reynals, the work was written before 1633, but was published in Europe in 1639. Another author places publication in 1638 and suggests that the work was probably written in 1630. See Saul Jarcho, Quinines Predecessor: Francesco Torti and the Early History of Cinchona (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), p. 280 n. 10. 3 . Malaria is caused by a plasmodium that spends part of its life cycle in and is transferred by the Anopholes mosquito. The alkaloids in cinchona bark interfere with the reproduction of the malaria plasmodium.

See Jarcho, p. xv. 4 . Norman Taylor, Cinchona in Java: The Story of Quinine (New York: Greenberg, 1945) p. 29. 5 . Duran-Reynals, pp. 25-26. 6 . See Jarcho, pp. 1-11 for a discussion of the earliest remarks about the appearance of cinchona in Europe. 7 . Jarcho. In particular, see p. 14. According to one story regarding the discovery of cinchona, the bark was used to cure the Countess of Chinchon, who was the wife of the Viceroy of Lima. She subsequently supported the exportation and dissemination of the bark in Europe. Linnaeus based his name for the bark on this story, but misspelled the name. The story has since been demonstrated to be false. See Jarcho and Duran-Reynals. 8 . See Jarcho, pp. 14-16 and Duran-Reynals, pp. 43-44. 9 . Jarcho includes an extensive chapter on the understanding of fevers during this time.

Cinchona | Definition of Cinchona by Merriam-Webster \chin-ˈchōn\ play , Countess of (Doña Francisca Henriquez de Ribera) , vicereine. According to a legend first given out in 1663 and supposedly based on a now-lost letter, Countess Chinchón, the wife of the viceroy of Peru, fell ill with malaria. The governor of a neighboring province quickly provided a remedy in the form of a certain tree bark. The countess experienced a seemingly miraculous recovery, and word of the bark's extraordinary powers quickly spread. The name of the countess henceforth became associated with the bark. While the story is apocryphal, Linnaeus perpetuated the name of the countess, albeit in misspelled form, by designating the genus of that tree Cinchona in her honor. Learn More about cinchona Cinchona Cinchona Peruvian Bark Quinine Tree The plant known as the cinchona is a tall evergreen tree that often reaches between fifty to a hundred feet in height when fully mature.

The leaves of the cinchona are flat and broad, marked off by large veins running in the lamina which has a shiny green surface. Cinchona flowers are white, pink or red in color and are often elongated; they are also covered all over thickly with silky hairs, giving them a very distinct appearance. Malaria was a major enemy for the American troops who fought their way from one island to island during the Second World War. These troops ï¿½island hoppedï¿½ across many places in the South Pacific, where they faced a formidable non-human enemy in the form of the deadly protozoan parasite that causes malaria. In most of the tropical jungles of these islands, the deadly microscopic foes lay for human victims and caused a lot of needless casualties. Malaria is caused by the protozoans belonging to the genus Plasmodium, which when injected into the human blood by way of the needle fine proboscis of a mosquito, will subsequently bring on the debilitating disease of malaria on the unlucky victim. The compound called quinine found in the bark of the cinchona was the chemical weapon of choice against malaria. This tree was at the time cultivated largely on the island of Java in the Indonesian archipelago.

At this time, the enemy controlled Java, and as a result very little cinchona was available for the treatment of U.S. troops affected by malaria. Malaria began to be controlled to a great degree only with the eventual development of a synthetic substitute for quinine previously only obtainable from the cinchona tree. The medical battle against both microscopic and human enemies was won once the synthetic quinine was available. Cinchona trees are in fact not an indigenous species to Indonesia. They were introduced to Java by European colonists. These tall and broad leaved evergreen trees are new world plants native to the Americas. Cinchona is a distinctive plant with fragrant clusters of small flowers and was originally found in tropical America. Spanish priests were the first to collect the plants in the early 17th century from the Andean region of South America. They recognized the curative powers of the bitter tasting cinchona bark in treating malaria - the natives traditionally used the cinchona bark to treat malaria. Cinchona trees thrive in rain forests found at elevations between 3,000 and 11,000 feet in South America, there are at least forty documented cinchona species in South American forests.

Soon, the medical community in all of Europe became alert to the miraculous power and curative compound found in the bark of about a dozen cinchona species - then known as the fever tree. The name was appropriate as the cinchona bark in powdered form not only cured malaria but also reduced elevated temperatures during fevers of all kinds. Therefore, cinchona bark was one of the earliest miracle cures obtained from the wild. However, the majority of European physicians still refused to use the new medicine on their patients as the remedy were primarily being promoted by the Jesuit priests. An order that was deeply hated and dread across much of protestant Europe at that time. Thus, many countries with protestant kings or queens barred the entry of "Jesuits' bark," or "Jesuit powder," into their land. This led to a bizarre situation where the cinchona bark was all but barred in many countries in which malaria was in the process of exacting a terrible toll on the population.

Things began to turn around as the curative power of the bark was undisputed and real, and thus necessity finally prevailed over prejudice, towards the end of the 17th century in many areas of the world, the powdered bark of the cinchona was being used as a primary treatment for malaria affected patients. Cinchona bark powder was never considered to be a pleasant herbal remedy even when mixed in water - it turned the water bitter. The bitter liquid needed to be drunk often and in large dosages by the patients. In the early days, though the optimal dosage was never reached, it was still the only remedy that worked and was unavoidable in case of malarial infections . The chemical compound responsible for the cure was identified in the year 1820 by two French scientists, Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Caventou; these scientists identified the substance in the cinchona bark as quinine. The compound called quinine is an alkaloid; it was named by scientist after the indigenous word ï¿½quina,ï¿½ which is the native Indian word for bark. Further chemical analysis of the cinchona bark has revealed the presence of many other alkaloids.

One of the compounds among these alkaloids is the substance called quinidine - mainly employed today in the treatment of abnormal rhythms of the heart, as well as in relieving muscular cramps , and as remedy to treat a headache . The demand for cinchona during the 19th century in Europe and across the world increased to such an extent, that viable populations of the trees in South America were almost exhausted and the plant was threatened with extinction. European colonists made an attempt to cultivate different cinchona species in their colonies found in tropical regions of the world. In this attempt, the most successful Europeans were the Dutch colonists on the Indonesian island of Java - which turned out to have the best conditions for growth of cinchona trees. In the contemporary world, as a result of the diffusion of the cinchona to many former European colonies, the world's cinchona supply mainly comes from central Africa and Indonesia, in addition to South America - its main place of origin. Cinchona has also managed to reestablish itself in many areas of the South American continent. Parts used Bark.

Uses The name cinchona reportedly comes from the name of a Spanish Countess, the Countess of Chinchon, who was treated for a fever using a remedy made from the bark while in South America. Upon recovering, the countess had saplings of the herb sent to Europe, where the plant species were subsequently name after her. The curative powers of cinchona bark was initially revealed to Europeans by Jesuit priests who traveled to Peru in the 17th century, the Jesuits found that the native people chewed on the bark of the cinchona to prevent shaking and chills that came after they worked in icy streams for the early Spanish colonial mines. The native peoples had traditionally used the bark for treating fevers and chills as well as malaria. The Jesuits eventually linked the shaking from cold to the shaking of the body commonly seen during a bout of malarial fever in patients. These Jesuits then went a step further and tried chewing on the bark as a means to treat malarial fevers. The cure worked, however, the Jesuits were not always trusted, and the medication was suspect to some degree as bark from some varieties of cinchona was not potent enough to cure malaria.

When it was initially introduced, chewing the bark did not always result in a complete cure from malaria. This was one factor that brought on distrust and persecution of many Jesuits in different European countries. By 1820, the cinchona had been established as being a definite cure for malaria and its use was widespread. Scientists wanted to find out the compound present in the bark responsible for the cure. As mentioned before, this was achieved by two French chemists, J.B. Caventou and P.J. Pelletier who eventually isolated an alkaloid from the cinchona bark in the year 1820, they named it quinine. Quinine from cinchona extracts became the only medication for malaria. However, the world was dependent on cinchona trees for the supply of quinine and this led to a race for synthesizing quinine from other sources. American chemists succeeded in synthesizing quinine in the year 1944, during WW2 when supplies of natural quinine were mostly out of reach.

Following the success of synthetic quinine, different quinine based medications like the chloroquine and primaquine were subsequently used in treating malaria - these synthesized compounds were safer and more potent than the natural extracts of the bark. The effectiveness of cinchona bark and quinine itself in the treatment of malaria has been questioned by recent evidence that show the existence of certain resistant sub-species of the malaria causing pathogens . The discovery of these resistant variants of the parasite has sparked much debate about the real effectiveness of the whole plant over the synthetic variety. Herbal remedies prepared in many places around the world still rely on the use of the natural bark. Cinchona is traditionally considered to be a stimulant for flagging appetite in Brazil, where it is also used to cure physical fatigue and exhaustion. In other South American countries such as Venezuela, the cinchona bark is employed as an herbal remedy for the treatment of cancers in various parts of the body. The bark is also the primary source for the alkaloid medication known as quinidine, which is used in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and related heart conditions. Cinchona bark remedies have been used in various herbal treatments by the indigenous people of Peru over the centuries.

The bark remains a traditional and much utilized herbal remedy for treating all kinds of fevers, various digestive problems, and different types of infections or disorders. Malaria was primarily treated using extracts from the cinchona bark, in particular quinine, till about the World War I and the inter war years. Synthetic quinine became available during the Second World War. The synthetic form of the alkaloid was mainly used. However, from the 1960s onwards, the malarial parasite began to develop resistance to the synthetic medication chloroquinine. This situation brought natural quinine out of the shelves again for use in treating malaria. All kinds of fever induced symptoms and feverish conditions in the body can also be treated using quinine. Cinchona bark also stimulates the secretion of the saliva , moreover this bitter tonic induces digestive secretions and boosts the appetite - aiding the recovery of the weak digestive system. An infusion made from the bark of the cinchona is effectively used as a gargle for treating sore, infected throats and other oral problems. Herbal remedies made from the cinchona plant are used in the treatment of muscular cramps, particularly the muscular cramps that come in the night.

Remedies made from the cinchona are also helpful in bringing relief from chronic arthritis and related problems. Cinchona is used in the Indian ayurvedic system of medicine for the treatment of problems such as sciatica and dysentery , in addition to problems connected with kapha and other disorders. Other medical uses Homeopathy Habitat and cultivation The cinchona is indigenous to the mountainous tropical regions of the South American continent, particularly the tropical area of Peru - it is also found in other countries in tropical South America. Cultivation of the cinchona is big business, and cinchona plantations can be found in Asian countries such as India and Indonesia - mainly Java. Cinchona is also cultivated in many parts of Africa. In these areas, the cultivation of the cinchona is intensive and carried out on large commercial tree farms. Propagation of the cinchona trees is done from cutting late in the spring season. Harvest of the product consists of the removal of trunk bark and bark from the branches and the root. The bark is normally only removed from six to eight year old trees, and the collected bark is then subjected to drying in the sun on mats.

Annually, approximately 8,000 tons of the bark is harvested from such farms. Research A lot of research has been carried out on the cinchona and the effectiveness and potency of the pharmacological actions of the compounds in the bark is well established by clinical analysis. The principal active compound, the alkaloid quinine in the bark of the cinchona is a potent bactericidal and anti-malarial compound. In addition, it is strongly anti-spasmodic like the other plant alkaloids. Secretion of digestive juices in the stomach is boosted by the bitter constituents in cinchona, these bitter principles and the alkaloids like quinovin, also induce a reflex stimulation on the digestive system as a whole - which is beneficial for the human body. The alkaloid qinidine in the cinchona bark is known to be a cardiac depressant and lowers the heart rate and alleviates irregularity of heartbeat in people with such cardiac problems.

Constituents Cinchona contains alkaloids (up to 15%), mainly quinoline alkaloids (quinine, quinidine), and also indole alkaloids (cinchonamine), tannins , bitter triterpenic glycosides (quinovin), quinic acid. Usual dosage As an herbal infusion: the herbal infusion made from cinchona bark can be taken thrice daily for treating malaria and fevers. This infusion is prepared by using a cup of boiling water to steep a teaspoonful of the powdered bark. The bark must be permitted to infuse into the water for half an hour. The infusion so prepared can be used for treating various disorders. Cinchona tincture: the tincture can be used in 1ml to 2ml doses thrice daily to treat different disorders. Collection and harvesting During harvest, bark is stripped from six to eight year old cinchona trees. The collected bark is dried in the sun and stored for processing and export. What is Quinine? (with pictures) What is Quinine?

Last Modified Date: 08 January 2017 Copyright Protected: Top 10 unbelievable historical concurrencies Quinine is a substance that was first obtained by processing the bark of the cinchona tree, a South American native plant that has been used as a fever reducer by Native Americans for centuries. This substance has been used historically to treat malaria , along with some other medical conditions, and although a number of antimalarial drugs are on the market today, it is still used in some regions. It is also used commercially as an additive to tonic water , a soft drink that is used as a mixer for other drinks in addition to being consumed straight. History Europeans were introduced to quinine in the 1600s, when Jesuit missionaries first brought the “miracle bark” to Europe from their South American missions. When Europeans began using the drug to treat the fevers associated with malaria, they discovered that it was highly effective against certain strains, and Jesuit missions soon began making money from their operations. Through the 1930s, it was the only drug effective against malaria, until an assortment of other antimalarials were developed to combat the disease.

Features In pure form, quinine is a white to colorless crystalline powder with a sharply bitter taste. This bitterness is famous; it's what gives tonic water its classic flavor, and it was the bane of many residents of the tropics, where quinine was taken as a prophylactic to prevent malaria infection. Tonic water was, in fact, originally developed as a prophylactic antimalarial drug, and many people added things like gin to make the tonic more palatable. Modern tonic water does not usually contain enough of this substance to be useful as a prophylactic against malaria, although it retains the bitter flavor. Quinine for the treatment and prevention of malaria can be purchased in the form of tablets and liquid medications. The drug is also used to treat muscle cramps and fever, and it has historically been used to hasten uterine contractions during childbirth. For this reason, pregnant women should not use it. Advantages The medicine has a distinct advantage over other antimalarials: although it is expensive and time consuming to produce, the parasites that cause malaria appear to be slow to develop a resistance to it.

As a result, the drug is sometimes used to treat drug resistant malaria, in lieu of medications which may fail to work. Although it has been synthesized historically, researchers have yet to perfect an efficient and accurate synthesis process for the drug, so, for now, it continues to be produced in the traditional way, from cinchona bark. Side Effects Despite its historical usefulness, and potential for use in cases of drug resistance, quinine is not recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a first-line treatment for malaria due to its side effects. A group of antimalarials called artemisins, originally isolated from the Artemisia plant, are favored as of 2012. Some people who use quinine can develop a dangerously low level of platelets in the blood, which affects the ability of the body to stem bleeding from cuts. The medicine can also be toxic to the liver and kidneys, and may also adversely affect the nerves of the body. Although levels in tonic water are not dangerous to health, some herbal remedies, such as those that aim to relieve muscle cramps , contain quinine in doses which could produce side effects.

Ad Cinchona Bark Cinchona Bark by Juliet Burba Illustration of Kinquina from Pierre Pomet, Histoire generale des drogues. Paris: Jean Baptiste Loyson & Augustin Pillon, 1694, p. 132. In 16th century Europe, the fevers of the common illness ague often resulted in death. No one was immune to the fevers  they indiscriminately killed peasants, kings, princes and popes. Although today it is commonly considered a disease of tropical lands, in the 17th century malaria affected vast parts of Europe, including Rome, Versailles and London. Early 17th-century ague patients had one principal cure available to them  bleeding. If bleeding was ineffective, the physician might try purging or the use of emetics. Even astrology might be employed as a cure, because the periodicity of malarial fevers suggested a connection with astronomical phenomena. 1 Some of the various names used for the fevers denoted their frequency of recurrence, such as tertian, quartan, semitertian, and double tertian.

Historians debate whether cinchona was an indigenous medicine or was discovered by Europeans. Evidence suggests that malaria did not exist in the New World before the arrival of the Spanish. Thus, according to one author, native people knew nothing about the medicinal use of cinchona bark. He supports his claim by stating that the bark did not appear in early Inca pharmacopoeias as translated by the Spanish, but does not cite a source for that information. 4 However, even if malaria was not indigenous to South America, many years passed between the first arrival of the Spanish (and, presumably, malaria) and the earliest writings about cinchona by Europeans. This would have allowed the native people time to have developed a cure. Such a view is supported by the historian Lucile Brockway and by the semi-popular author M.L. Duran-Reynals, who points to the vast array of medicinal plants used by native healers and the large number of these plants transplanted to Europe from South and Central America at this time. Native plant remedies were so much more effective than the techniques of European physicians, writes Duran-Reynals, that Pizzaros soldiers preferred treatment from native healers.

5 6 The Jesuit Juan de Lugo (made cardinal in 1643) was entrusted by Pope Innocent X to learn more about the bark. Lugo had it tested by Gabrielle fonseca, a physician to the pope. Around the same time, in the late 1640s, directions for the use of the bark were published as the Schedula Romana. Although Duran-Reynals states that the work was published by the Jesuits, Jarcho is more cautious about naming an author and publisher, noting that there were several different editions and translations published around the same time. 8 Despite positive results and the backing of the Vatican, the use of cinchona was not universally adopted in 17th century Europe. Many factors contributed to the delay in acceptance. First, the bark often did not work. Cinchona could not cure all fevers, only those of malaria, so if the drug was used on a patient afflicted with some other disease, it appeared to be ineffective. Furthermore, unscrupulous dealers might sell inferior bark or the bark of some other tree, and after the long journey from New Spain to Europe the bark sometimes arrived too rotten to use.

The use of cinchona also contradicted the teachings of the ancient author Galen, whose work most physicians still used. According to Galen, a patient with ague needed to release humors, making bleeding, purging, and the use of emetics the preferred treatments. The use of a hot, bitter drink seemed to conflict with both Galenic medicine and common sense. 9 Finally, the support of the Vatican for the drug worked against its acceptance in some regions, particularly in England. The close association of the drug with Catholicism made many Protestants fear it was part of a popish plot against them. In the late 17th century, the Englishman Robert Talbor used these fears to make his name as a feverologist. Regarded by English physicians as a quack, he claimed to have a secret remedy for ague, but agreed with the prevailing opinion that Jesuits powder should be avoided. After successfully curing Charles II of malaria, he was sent to France to aid the royal family. Louis XIV bought the recipe for the cure, under the condition that he not read it until after Talbors death.

When the recipe was published in 1682, the secret medicine was revealed  it was, of course, cinchona. 10 By the mid-19th century the Dutch and English began claiming that the South American supply of cinchona was threatened by the non-sustainable cutting practices of the indigenous harvesters. 14 As Brockway suggests, evidence did not necessarily back that claim. In 1839, William Dawson Hooker, son of the renowned botanist William Jackson Hooker, wrote his dissertation on cinchona. He claimed that completely cutting the trees, rather than harvesting pieces of bark, was a better method, because insects would attack cinchona plants that had simply been debarked. On completely cut (or coppiced) plants, new growth quickly appeared, and could be harvested again in 6 years. Years later it was also discovered that cut and regrown cinchona had higher levels of the effective alkaloids in its bark, and this method of harvesting became common on many plantations.

15 The efficacy of indigenous harvesting methods suggests that the transfer of cinchona culture by the Dutch and English to plantations located in Southeast Asia occurred because of a desire to control the trade, and not because Native American practices caused a decline in cinchona growth. Without a large, steady supply of quinine, British and Dutch imperialism in India and Africa might have failed  without the antimalarial drug, vast numbers of British and Dutch administrators, military personnel and merchants in these lands would have been stricken and possibly killed by the disease. The widespread use of cinchona came about because of the colonizing efforts of Europeans, and the drug, in turn, aided Europe in expanding its colonization even further. 16 Notes 1 . M.L. Duran-Reynals, The Fever Bark Tree: The Pageant of Quinine (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1946) PP. 15-16. 2 . Quoted in Duran-Reynals, 24. According to Duran-Reynals, the work was written before 1633, but was published in Europe in 1639.

Another author places publication in 1638 and suggests that the work was probably written in 1630. See Saul Jarcho, Quinines Predecessor: Francesco Torti and the Early History of Cinchona (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), p. 280 n. 10. 3 . Malaria is caused by a plasmodium that spends part of its life cycle in and is transferred by the Anopholes mosquito. The alkaloids in cinchona bark interfere with the reproduction of the malaria plasmodium. See Jarcho, p. xv. 4 . Norman Taylor, Cinchona in Java: The Story of Quinine (New York: Greenberg, 1945) p. 29. 5 . Duran-Reynals, pp. 25-26. 6 . See Jarcho, pp. 1-11 for a discussion of the earliest remarks about the appearance of cinchona in Europe. 7 . Jarcho. In particular, see p. 14.

According to one story regarding the discovery of cinchona, the bark was used to cure the Countess of Chinchon, who was the wife of the Viceroy of Lima. She subsequently supported the exportation and dissemination of the bark in Europe. Linnaeus based his name for the bark on this story, but misspelled the name. The story has since been demonstrated to be false. See Jarcho and Duran-Reynals. 8 . See Jarcho, pp. 14-16 and Duran-Reynals, pp. 43-44. 9 . Jarcho includes an extensive chapter on the understanding of fevers during this time. 14 . Taylor and Klein both promulgate the view that cinchona was in danger of over-harvesting. 15 . Brockway, p. 111. 16 . On the link between botany and colonialism, especially in regards to Great Britain and the role of Kew Gardens, see Brockway. Bibliography Brockway, Lucile. 1979. Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens. New York: Academic Press. Duran-Reynals M.L. 1946.

The Fever Bark Tree: The Pageant of Quinine. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Jarcho, Saul. 1993. Quinines Predecessor: Francesco Torti and the Early History of Cinchona. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Klein, Richard. 1976. The Fever Bark Tree, Natural History 85. April: 10-19. Taylor, Norman. 1945. Cinchona in Java: The Story of Quinine. New York: Greenberg. Cinchona alkaloid - definition of Cinchona alkaloid by The Free Dictionary Cinchona alkaloid - definition of Cinchona alkaloid by The Free Dictionary Related to Cinchona alkaloid: cinchona tree , Cinchona officinalis cin·cho·na (sĭng-kō′nə, sĭn-chō′-) n. 1. Any of various evergreen trees and shrubs of the genus Cinchona, native chiefly to the Andes, some species of which are cultivated for their bark, which contains quinine and other alkaloids used chiefly to treat malaria. 2.

The dried bark of any of these plants. Also called Jesuit's bark, Peruvian bark. [New Latin Cinchona, genus name, reputedly after Francisca Henríquez de Ribera (1576-1639), Countess of Chinchón.] cin·chon′ic (sĭng-kŏn′ĭk, sĭn-chŏn′-) adj. cinchona (sɪŋˈkəʊnə) n 1. (Plants) any tree or shrub of the South American rubiaceous genus Cinchona, esp C. calisaya, having medicinal bark. Also called: quina or quinaquina 2. (Pharmacology) Also called: cinchona bark, Peruvian bark, calisaya, china bark, quina or quinaquina the dried bark of any of these trees, which yields quinine and other medicinal alkaloids 3.

(Pharmacology) any of the drugs derived from cinchona bark [C18: New Latin, named after the Countess of Chinchón (1576–1639), vicereine of Peru] cinchonic adj (sɪŋˈkoʊ nə, sɪn-) n., pl. -nas. 1. any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Cinchona, of the madder family, native to the Andes, esp. C. calisaya, whose bark yields quinine. 2. the medicinal bark of such trees or shrubs. [1740–50; < New Latin, after Francisca Enriques de Ribera, Countess of Chinchón (d. 1641), who was associated in several accounts (now considered spurious) with the introduction of quinine into Europe] cin•chon′ic (-ˈkɒn ɪk) adj. cin·cho·na (sĭng-kō′nə, sĭn-chō′nə) Any of several evergreen trees and shrubs of South America whose bark is the source of quinine and certain other drugs used to treat malaria.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: quinine noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com jump to other results a drug made from the bark of a S American tree, used in the past to treat malaria Word Origin early 19th cent.: from Spanish quina ‘cinchona bark’ (from Quechua kina ‘bark’) + -ine. Cinchona is an evergreen South American tree or shrub, whose bark is the source of quinine. Quinine bark - Cinchona Calisaya (Quina) 30g - TEABRASIL.com Home > Medicinal herbs > Teas and herbs >Quinine bark - Cinchona Calisaya (Quina) 30g Quinine bark - Cinchona Calisaya (Quina) 30g You must add 1 as a minimum quantity to buy this product. Availability: Warning: Last items in stock! By buying this product you can collect up to 1 loyalty point. Your cart will total 1 point that can be converted into a voucher of BRL 0.30.

Quinine bark - Cinchona Calisaya (Quina) 30g Quinine bark - Quina (Cinchona Calisaya) 30g Customers who bought this product also bought... Species: officinalis, ledgeriana, succirubra, calisaya Synonyms: Quinaquina officinalis, Quinaquina lancifolia, Quinaquina coccinea Common names: Quinine bark, quina, quinine, kinakina, China bark, cinchona bark, yellow cinchona, red cinchona, Peruvian bark, Jesuit's bark, quina-quina, calisaya bark, fever tree From The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs: QUININEHERBAL PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS Other Actions Standard Dosagetreats malariarelieves painBarkkills parasiteskills bacteriaDecoction: 1/2 to 1 cupreduces feverkills fungi3 times dailyregulated heartbeatdries secretionsCapsules: 2 g twice dailystimulates digestioncalms nervesTincture: 1-2 ml twice dailykills germs reduces spasms kills insects The genus Cinchona contains about forty species of trees.

They grow 15-20 meters in height and produce white, pink, or yellow flowers. All cinchonas are indigenous to the eastern slopes of the Amazonian area of the Andes, where they grow from 1,500-3,000 meters in elevation on either side of the equator (from Colombia to Bolivia). They can also be found in the northern part of the Andes (on the eastern slopes of the central and western ranges). They are now widely cultivated in many tropical countries for their commercial value, although they are not indigenous to those areas. TRIBAL AND HERBAL MEDICINE USES Cinchona, or quinine bark, is one of the rainforest's most famous plants and most important discoveries. Legend has it that the name cinchona came from the countess of Chinchon, the wife of a Peruvian viceroy, who was cured of a malarial type of fever by using the bark of the cinchona tree in 1638. It was supposedly introduced to European medicine in 1640 by the countess of Chinchon, even before botanists had identified and named the species of tree.

Quinine bark was first advertised for sale in England in 1658, and was made official in the British Pharmacopoeia in 1677. Physicians gave credit to the drug and, because of its effectiveness with malaria, it was recognized officially even while the identity of the tree species remained unknown. Several years after the "Countess's powder" arrived in England, it arrived in Spain. There, quinine bark was used by the Jesuits very early in its history and due to the influence of the Company of Jesus, the newly named "Jesuit's powder" became known all over Europe. When the plant was finally botanically classified almost one hundred years later in 1737, botanists still named it after the countess for her contribution. Throughout the mid-1600s to mid-1800s quinine bark was the primary treatment for malaria and it evidenced remarkable results. It was also used for fever, indigestion, mouth and throat diseases, and cancer. Natural quinine bark is still employed in herbal medicine systems around the world today. In Brazilian herbal medicine quinine bark is considered a tonic, a digestive stimulant, and fever-reducer.

It is used for anemia, indigestion, gastrointestinal disorders, general fatigue, fevers, malaria and as an appetite stimulant. Other folk remedies in South America cite quinine bark as a natural remedy for cancer (breast, glands, liver, mesentery, spleen), amebic infections, heart problems, colds, diarrhea, dysentery, dyspepsia, fevers, flu, hangover, lumbago, malaria, neuralgia, pneumonia, sciatica, typhoid, and varicose veins. In European herbal medicine the bark is considered antiprotozoal, antispasmodic, antimalarial, a bitter tonic, and a fever-reducer. There it is used as an appetite stimulant, for hair loss, alcoholism, liver, spleen, and gallbladder disorders; and to treat irregular heart beat, anemia, leg cramps, and fevers of all kinds.

In the U.S., quinine bark is used as a tonic and digestive aid; to reduce heart palpitations and normalize heart functions; to stimulate digestion and appetite; for hemorrhoids, varicose veins, headaches, leg cramps, colds, flu, and indigestion; and for its astringent, bactericidal, and anesthetic actions in various other conditions. PLANT CHEMICALS In 1820 two scientists, Pelletier and Caventou, isolated an alkaloid chemical in the bark which provided the highest antimalarial effect and named it quinine. Once discovered, methods were developed to extract only the quinine alkaloid from the natural bark to sell as an antimalarial drug. The South American rainforests benefited from the income generated by harvesting cinchona bark for the extraction of this alkaloid from the bark for the manufacture of quinine drugs. In the middle of the 19th century, though, seeds of Cinchona calisaya and Cinchona pubescens were smuggled out of South America by the British and the Dutch.

The calisaya species was planted and cultivated in Java by the Dutch and the pubescens species was cultivated in India and Ceylon by the British. However, the quinine content of these species was too low for high-grade, cost effective, commercial production of quinine. The Dutch then smuggled seeds of Cinchona ledgeriana out of Bolivia, paying $20 for a pound of seeds, and soon established extensive plantations of quinine-rich cinchona trees in Java. They quickly dominated the world production of quinine and, by 1918, the majority of the world's supply of quinine was under the total control of the Dutch "kina burea" in Amsterdam. Huge profits were reaped - but Bolivia and Peru, from whence the resource originated, saw none of it. The upheavals of the Second World War led to changes in the market which still remain in effect today. When Java was occupied by the Japanese in 1942, the Allies' supply of quinine was cut off. South American sources of cinchona trees and quinine bark were once again in demand, but new plantations were planted by the Allies in Africa as well.

This dire shortage of quinine fueled research for developing and producing a synthetic version of the quinine alkaloid rather than relying on the natural bark. In 1944 scientists were able to synthesize the quinine alkaloid in the laboratory. This led to various synthesized and patented quinine drugs which were manufactured by several pharmaceutical companies and which were of course, highly profitable. Today, Indonesia and India still cultivate cinchona trees; however Africa, with their expansions of the old WWII plantations, has emerged as the leading supplier of quinine bark. Much lower on the list of producers are the South American countries of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, still struggling to compete. Although all cinchona species are good sources of quinine, C. succirubra and C. ledgeriana are the species containing the highest amount of quinine alkaloids - which is why they are the species of choice for cultivation today. The cardiac effects of cinchona bark were noted in academic medicine at the end of the 17th century. Quinine was used sporadically through the first half of the 18th century for cardiac problems and arrhythmia and it became a standard of cardiac therapy in the second half of the 19th century.

Another alkaloid chemical called quinidine was discovered to be responsible for this beneficial cardiac effect. Quinidine, a compound produced from quinine, is still used in cardiology today, sold as a prescription drug for arrhythmia. The sales demand for this drug still generates the need for harvesting natural quinine bark today because scientists have been unsuccessful in synthesizing this chemical without utilizing the natural quinine found in cinchona bark. The main plant chemicals found in quinine bark include: aricine, caffeic acid, cinchofulvic acid, cincholic acid, cinchonain, cinchonidine, cinchonine, cinchophyllamine, cinchotannic acid, cinchotine, conquinamine, cuscamidine, cuscamine, cusconidine, cusconine, epicatechin, javanine, paricine, proanthocyanidins, quinacimine, quinamine, quinic acid, quinicine, quinine, quininidine, quinovic acid, quinovin, and sucirubine. Table: Alkaloid Content Comparison by Cinchona speciesSpecies Total Alkaloids (%)Quinine Content (%)C.

calisaya3 - 70 - 4C. pubescens4.5 - 8.51 - 3C. officinalis5 - 82 - 7.5C. ledgeriana5 -143 - 13C. succirubra6 - 164 - 14 BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES AND CLINICAL RESEARCH Interestingly enough, natural quinine extracted from quinine bark and the use of natural bark tea and/or bark extracts are making a comeback in the management and treatment of malaria. Malaria strains have evolved which have developed a resistance to the synthesized quinine drugs. It was shown in early studies that an effective dose of natural quinine bark extract elicited the same antimalarial activity as an effective dose of the synthesized quinine drug. Scientists are now finding that these new strains of drug-resistant malaria can be treated effectively with natural quinine and/or quinine bark extracts. As evolving pathogens develop widespread resistance to our standard antibiotics, antivirals, and antimalarial drugs, it is of little wonder that the use of the natural medicine in quinine bark is being revisited, even by such giants as the World Health Organization.

A recent use for quinine drugs has been for the treatment of muscle spasms and leg cramps. A 1998 study documented the beneficial effects of quinine for leg cramps, with tinnitus being the only documented side effect. In 2002, a double-blind placebo study was undertaken in which 98 people with nocturnal leg cramps were given 400 mg of quinine daily for 2 weeks. The results stated that quinine administered at this dose effectively reduced the frequency, intensity, and pain of leg cramps without relevant side-effects. This use has fueled the natural product market and more people are looking for natural quinine bark as an alternative to the synthesized prescription drugs for this purpose. CURRENT PRACTICAL USES Quinine bark is harvested today much as it has been for hundreds of years. The tree trunks are beaten and the peeling bark is removed. The bark partially regenerates on the tree and, after a few years and several cycles of bark removal, the trees are uprooted and new ones are planted. The commercial quinine market today is difficult to calculate.

It is thought that 300-500 metric tons of quinine alkaloids are extracted annually from 5,000-10,000 metric tons of harvested bark. Nearly half of the harvest is directed to the food industry for the production of quinine water, tonic water, and as an FDA-approved bitter food additive. The remainder is utilized in the manufacture of the quinidine prescription drug. Quinine is very bitter tasting and commercially sold tonic waters often use quinine as it's bitter ingredient/component. Commercially-produced tonic water usually contains around 100 to 300 parts per million quinine and up to a maximum allowable concentration of 70 milligrams of quinine per liter. The longstanding natural remedy for quinine bark usually calls for a cup of boiling water to be poured over approximately 1-2 g of ground or chopped natural bark and allowed to steep for ten minutes. A cupful of this infusion is drunk half an hour before meals to stimulate the appetite, or after meals to treat digestive disorders. The use of pure quinine at large dosages can be toxic.

The reported therapeutic oral dose for quinine alkaloids in adults is between 167-333 mg three times per day. Reportedly, a single dose of 2-8 grams of pure quinine alkaloids taken orally may be fatal to an adult. Natural bark teas prepared in the traditional manner, however, have a long history of use without toxic effects. A cup of traditional quinine bark tea would provide approximately 100 mg of total alkaloids, including quinine (based upon an average of 5% total alkaloid content in the raw bark). The history of the cinchona tree provides a perfect example of how a natural product can go from folklore and indigenous use into world trade-and then into the drug market. It's also a perfect example of how indigenous peoples and countries with important natural resources are too often pirated and left out of the profit loop by industrialized nations and rich, multinational, profit-driven organizations. Despite the fact that quinine and quinidine drugs were patented and sold, Peru and Bolivia - from whence the discovery was made and the resources extracted - did not share in the patents or resulting profits. Their natural resources were smuggled out and profitable world markets were created from them.

They were poor, developing nations without multinational backing or investment capital - and ended up at the bottom of the heap while competing in a global market for resources indigenous to their countries. While governments are making inroads and new laws concerning biodiversity and intellectual property rights to correct this situation, business still has a long way to go to "do the right thing." Ideally, if natural quinine bark makes a comeback in the growing natural products industry or new drugs are developed for these drug-resistant strains of malaria, these new laws will protect the natural resources of these developing nations.

QUININE PLANT SUMMARYMain Preparation Method: decoctionMain Actions (in order): antimalarial, bitter digestive aid, antiparasitic, antispasmodic, febrifuge (reduces fever) Main Uses: for malariaas a bitter digestive aid to stimulate digestive juicesfor nocturnal leg crampsfor intestinal parasites and protozoafor arrhythmia and other heart conditionsProperties/Actions Documented by Research: anti-arrhythmic, antimalarial, antiparasitic, antiprotozoal, antispasmodic, bitter digestive aid, cardiotonic (tones, balances, strengthens the heart)Other Properties/Actions Documented by Traditional Use:amebicide, analgesic (pain-reliever), antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, astringent, digestive stimulant, febrifuge (reduces fever), insecticide, nervine (balances/calms nerves), neurasthenic (reduces nerve pain) Cautions: It contains quinine alkaloids that are toxic in large doses. Do not exceed recommended dosages. See other contraindications in main plant section.

Traditional Preparation: One-half cup bark decoction 1-3 times daily or 1-2 ml of a 4:1 tincture is taken twice daily. One to 2 grams daily of powdered bark in tablets or capsules can be substituted if desired. See Traditional Herbal Remedies Preparation Methods page if necessary for definitions. Contraindications: Quinine bark contains naturally-occurring quinine alkaloids. These quinine alkaloids are sold as prescription drugs with numerous side effects and warnings documented in the literature. Do not exceed the quinine bark natural remedy amounts shown above unless you are under the care and advice of a qualified health care practitioner who is familiar with the warnings, side effects, and contraindications of higher therapeutic levels of quinine alkaloids.

Drug Interactions: May potentiate blood thinning medications such as Warfarin.® WORLDWIDE ETHNOMEDICAL USESBrazilfor anemia, anorexia, debility, digestive sluggishness, dyspepsia, fatigue, fevers, gastrointestinal disorders, indigestion, malariaEuropefor alcoholism, anemia, antimalarial, appetite stimulant, cramps, debility, diarrhea, enlarged spleen, fevers, flatulence, gallbladder disorders, hair loss, irregular heartbeat, leg cramps, liver disorders, malaria, muscle pain, protozoal infections, and as a antisepticMexicomalaria, and as an antiseptic, astringent, and tonicUSfor bacterial infections, colds, digestive disorders, dyspepsia, fevers, flu, headaches, heart palpitations, hemorrhoids, leg cramps, malaria, pain, varicose veins, viral infections, and as an appetite stimulant, astringent and cardiotonicVenezuelafor cancer and malariaElsewherefor amebic infections, bacterial infections, carditis, colds, contraceptive, cough, dandruff, diarrhea, digestive sluggishness, dysentery, dyspepsia, fever,

 flu, glandular disorders, hangovers, hemorrhoids, lumbago, malaria, neuralgia, pain, pinworms, pneumonia, sciatica, septic infections, sore throat, stomatitis, tumor (glands), typhoid, varicose veins, and as a insecticide, insect repellent, stimulant, and uterine tonic﻿ No customer comments for the moment.

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Question: What is the name of the South American tree whose bark contains Quinine?
Answer: CINCHONA