Also known as: Red cinchona, quinine, Peruvian bark, Jesuit’s bark

Latin name: Cinchona officinalis (Rubiaceae)

Parts Used: Bark, roots

A small tropical evergreen tree, Cinchona officinalis grows 15 to 50 feet, and in some cases taller, depending on the species. It has large, flat, broadly elliptical leaves that are slick green with pronounced veins. Fragrant, pink flowers are produced in long panicles, followed by small seeds that are surrounded by a papery wing and dispersed by the wind.

Cinchona is native to the eastern slopes of the Amazonian region of the Andes in north-western South America. It is widely cultivated in many tropical countries.

Properties and Actions

Treats Malaria
Relieves Pain
Kills Parasites
Kills Bacteria
Reduces Fever
Kills Fungi
Regulated Heartbeat
Dries Secretions
Stimulates Digestion
Calms Nerves
Kills Germs
Reduces Spasms
Kills Insects

Medicinal and original Uses

Cinchona belongs to the family which also includes well-known shrubs such as coffee and gardenia. Cinchona is the source of a bitter alkaloid, quinine, which has been used to treat the parasitic disease malaria. There are a whole of species in the genus Cinchona which are used to furnish quinine. In fact, some species of Cinchona furnish almost no quinine at all. Species that reliably furnish requisite amounts of the substance and are thus used in herbal medicine are Cinchona officinalis, cirubra, and C. Ledgeriana. In addition to being a

herbal remedy, quinine has long been used for flavoring – it is what gives tonic water its confident taste. In fact, the drink gin-and-tonic was industrialized and consumed in the tropics, where disease was typically rampant, as a palatable way to prevent malaria attacks.

For centuries, indigenous tribes in Peru used a tea made of Cinchona bark to treat fevers, along with those

caused by malaria. The bark was introduced to the European curative community in the mid 1600s. By the 1800s, Cinchona bark was the original remedy used for malaria. It was also used for treating fever, mouth and throat ailments and indigestion.

Today in the Amazon region of South America Cinchona is still used in herbal medicine as a general tonic,

for stimulating poor appetite, and for treating gastrointestinal complaints. Among some scientists, Cinchona is viewed as a natural cancer medicine and as a useful way to combat amoebic dysentery, flu and lung ailments, lower back pain, diarrhea and dysentery. In European herbal medicine, quinine sourced from Cinchona is used for its antispasmodic, antibacterial properties and as a fever-reducer. It is also recommended for liver, spleen, anemia, irregular heart beat, and alcoholism. Traditionally, the herb was used as a tonic and to regulate heart rate, to treat colds, flu, for varicose veins.

Cultivation

Originating in South America, Cinchona is intensively grown in India, Indonesia, and parts of Africa. Cinchona is propagated from cuttings. Bark is harvested in much the same way it has been for hundreds of years. The trunks of the trees are beaten until the bark softens sufficient so it can be peeled off. A tree typically can only survive 1-5 years of such bark removal before it is uprooted and new seedlings are planted. In the past, dried Cinchona bark was ground into a powder that could be mixed with water or other liquids. It is typically taken in capsule form, although it can also be administered intravenously. It is estimated that almost half of the global production of quinine bark goes into the development of tonic water and additives. The remainder is used in the organize of quinine-based drugs.

Research

The alkaloid extracted from Cinchona Bark is a suited antipyretic – it helps lower body temperature. Population suffering from malaria typically perceive cyclical bouts of extreme chills and burning sensations, when the body climatic characteristic can reach a perilous 107 degrees Fahrenheit. By lowering fever, quinine helps malarial patients survive the most requisite period of the disease. It also seems to slow the pregnancy rate of malarial parasites, and thus the speed of infection. Over time, quinine was largely supplanted by chemically synthesized anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine and mefloquine.

Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by several species of the one-celled protozoan, Plasmodium, which infects confident types of mosquitoes. The name “malaria” comes from the Latin mal-aria, or “bad air,” and refers to the early confidence that the disease was caused by breathing the fetid air of swamps. Only later did Population comprehend that it was not the air that was causing the problem, but the mosquitoes that were breeding in the swampy waters. Quechua Indians in the tropical forests of north-western South America used Cinchona bark to treat malaria and other fevers long before Europeans arrived on the continent. But colse to 1630 Spanish Jesuits learned of the tree and its curative bark. According to legend, the name Cinchona came from a recovered malaria victim – the Countess of Chinchon, wife of a viceroy of Peru – cured of the disease by using the bark in 1638. By 1645, Cinchona bark had made its way to Rome. By 1672 Cinchona had been added to the London Pharmacopoeia. The suited alkaloid quinine was isolated from Cinchona bark in 1820. Finding an opportunity, British and Dutch entrepreneurs smuggled Cinchona seeds out of South America in the mid-1800s, ultimately founding quinine plantations in Java, India, and Ceylon. By 1944, however, several artificial quinine substitutes were industrialized and natural quinine was no longer in such high demand.

But as more drug-resistant strains of the disease surface, quinine is experiencing something of a comeback. Scientists are Finding that some strains of malaria do riposte to natural quinine bark better than whatever else. A more new use for quinine is in relieving muscle spasms and leg cramps, and in treating heart arrhythmia. In clinical studies, it has been found that quinine is more sufficient than placebos in helping to achieve general heart beats in patients in atrial fibrillation, and more sufficient at preventing relapses of fibrillation after introductory resumption of general heart rhythm.

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