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Concept
Cinchona
Summary
Cinchona (pronounced sɪŋˈkoʊnə or sɪnˈchoʊnə) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are reportedly naturalized in Central America, Jamaica, French Polynesia, Sulawesi, Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, and São Tomé and Príncipe off the coast of tropical Africa, and others have been cultivated in India and Java, where they have formed hybrids.
Cinchona has been historically sought after for its medicinal value, as the bark of several species yields quinine and other alkaloids. These were the only effective treatments against malaria during the height of European colonialism, which made them of great economic and political importance. Trees in the genus are also known as fever trees because of their antimalarial properties.
The artificial synthesis of quinine in 1944, an increase in resistant forms of malaria, and the emergence of alternate therapies eventually ended large-scale economic interest in Cinchona cultivation. Cinchona alkaloids show promise in treating Plasmodium falciparum malaria, which has evolved resistance to synthetic drugs. Cinchona plants continue to be revered for their historical legacy; the national tree of Peru is in the genus Cinchona.
Carl Linnaeus named the genus in 1742, based on a claim that the plant had cured the wife of the Count of Chinchón, a Spanish viceroy in Lima, in the 1630s, though the veracity of this story has been disputed. Linnaeus used the Italian spelling Cinchona, but the name Chinchón (pronounced tʃinˈtʃon in Spanish) led to Clements Markham and others proposing a correction of the spelling to Chinchona, and some prefer the pronunciation tʃɪnˈtʃoʊnə for the common name of the plant. Traditional medicine uses from South America known as Jesuit's bark and Jesuit's powder have been traced to Cinchona.
Cinchona plants belong to the family Rubiaceae and are large shrubs or small trees with evergreen foliage, growing in height.
Official source
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