Cinchona

Where it grows

Cinchona is native to the cloud forests of the eastern Andes from Colombia south to Bolivia, growing between 1500 and 3000 metres elevation. Several closely related species share the name. Dutch and British plantations on Java and in India eventually broke the South American monopoly during the 19th century.

How to recognise it

The trees are slender with smooth bark, opposite oval leaves often flushed red on the underside, and dense panicles of pale pink, jasmine-scented tubular flowers. The bark when cut tastes intensely bitter — the most distinctive field test.

Uses

The bark contains the alkaloid quinine, which Jesuit missionaries learned about from Quechua healers in the 17th century. Quinine was the only effective antimalarial until the synthesis of chloroquine in 1934 and remains a backup treatment for drug-resistant strains. The lingering bitterness of tonic water comes from a small dose of quinine originally meant to protect British colonials.

Conservation

Wild populations were heavily plundered by 19th-century bark-strippers, and several species are now vulnerable. The bark remains a national emblem of Peru.