The Quinine tree or large shrub has provided medical cures for malaria and fever for 400 years. The ground up bark is the key substance for this and as the additive in tonic water.

Key Features of Quinine Tree

• Latin name – Cinchona calisaya other common names Fever tree, Quina, Jesuits bark
• Height – up to 80 feet
• Type of tree – Evergreen
• Leaves – green shiny elliptic or oblong
• Flowers – Fragrant terminal tubular panicles in white to pink
• Fruit – Ovoid capsule containing winged seeds
• Bark – Grey-brown and special see below
• Family – Rubiaceae,

Origins and Distribution of the Quinine Tree

• Native to South America and Peru.
• Named after Countess of Chinchona who fell ill with malaria in 1638 but was saved by a treatment of bark administered by local indians.
• Peruvians tightly controlled the drug until the tree was established in Java by the British and Dutch.

Uses and Attributes of the Quinine Tree

• The bark contains several alkaloids with medicinal properties. It is used in the prevention and treatment of malaria and various fevers.
• Quinine extract is used to flavour tonic water and makes your gin and tonic something special.

Gardeners Tips for the Quinine Tree

• I wish I could grow my own plant to add to my gin in an evening.
• Cinchona require sub-tropical conditions and are nor suitable for UK gardens.

Other types of Cinchona

• There are a couple of dozen species in the genus varying from small trees to shrubs.

Quinine comments from elsewhere

• Quinine sulphate sounds like a miracle drug according to Henriette’s Herbal it has been used ‘As a stimulating antiseptic it has been used as a wash in very many conditions. In sluggish ulcers and old sores, where there is no activity to the capillary circulation, it may be applied with good results. It is useful in threatened gangrene and in chilblain. It was at one time extensively used as a throat wash in diphtheria, and to its antiseptic character is credited its beneficial influence upon whooping cough, having been much depended on for the cure of that disease.’ more

Quinine and Quarantine: Missouri Medicine Through the Years by Loren Humphrey paperback from Amazon

Credits
IMG_1999.JPG by TEBart CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Quinine tree by VSmithUK CC BY-NC-SA 2.0