CINCHONA, sin-kffnit iNeo-Lat.„ prop. Chin chore. from the Countess del Chinchon, wife of the Vieeroy of Peril). An important genus of trees of the order Rubiacem. They yield the bark, so mulch valued in medicine, known as Peruvian bark, Jesuits' bark. china bark, gni= quinquina, cinchona bark. etc.. from which the important alkaloids quinia or quinine (q.v.) and einehonia or ein•honine (q.v.) are obtained. The properties of the alkaloids are astringent. tonic, antiperiodie, and febrifugal. The species of this genus are sometimes trees of considerable size; but, an after-growth springing from their roots when they have been felled. they often ap pear only as large shrubs. and some of them in the highest mountain regions in which they are found are low trees with stems only 8 or 10 feet in height. They exist naturally only in South America. between latitudes 20° S. and 10° N., and chiefly on the eastern slope of the second range of the All the cinchonas. of which there are about fifty species, are evergreen trees, with laurel-like. entire, stipules which soon fall off, and panicles of flowers which. in general appearanee, are not un like of lilac or privet. The flowers are white. rose•eolored, or purplish, and very fragrant. The calyx is small and five-toothed; the corolla tulmlar with a salver-shaped five-eleft limb. in the true cinchona, the capsule splits from the base upward.
Great difficulty has been found in determining the species by which the different varieties of cinchona hark known in commerce are prodneed. The c(onmon commercial names are derived imart ly from the color of the barks, and partly from the districts in which they are produced, or the ports where they are shipped. It appears that calisaya bark, also called 'royal' or 'yellow' hark. one of the very best kinds—mostly shipped from Arica. Chile—is chiefly the produce of Cinchona ealisaya, a large tree _rowing in hot mountain alluys of Bolivia and the south of Peru. Other kinds met with in the trade are crown. loxa, or pale hark. derived from Cinchona otlivinalis and its varieties; red bark, from sm ell-111)ra: Colombia bark. front Cinchona cordi folia : and pale hark from Cinchona nitida and Cinchona micrantha. Yellow bark is also pro duced by the variety ledgeriana of Cinchona, calisaya. The varieties of this and Cinchona suecirnbra are the ones most met with in culti vation.
In South America the and peeling of einehona-trees is carried on by Indians, who go in parties. and pursue their oeettpation during the whole of the dry season. The trees were formerly felled as near the root as possible. that none of the bark might be lost. The hark, being stripped off, is earefully dried: the quilled form of the thinner bark is acquired in drying. The bark is made up into packages of various sizes, but averaging about 150 pounds weight. closely wrapped in woolen cloth, and afterwards in hides, to he conveyed on mules' backs to the towns. These packages are called 'drums' or 'seroons,' and are exported in this form. At present less wasteful methods are employed, and the bark is removed so as not to destroy the trees. Strips of bark are sometimes removed and the wounds covered with moss, thus increas ing; the total yield.
A number of spurious kinds of Peruvian or cinchona bark are either sent into the market separately, or are employed for adulterating the genuine kinds. They are bitter barks, and have, in greater or less degree. febrifugal properties. hut are chemically and medicinally very differ ent from true cinchona bark. They are produced by trees of genera very closely allied to Cinchona. 1‘hile cinchona-trees have been becoming every year more scarce in their native regions, little attempt has been made to cultivate them there, notwithstanding the constantly increasing de mand for the bark: the Dutch have recently made extensive plantations of them in Java. and the same has been done in British India, from seeds and plants obtained from South America by Sir. Clements Ma rkhammi. is also extensively in Jamaica. Japan. Ceylon. etc. For the eultivation of einelmona a good soil and open subsoil are necessary. It seems to thrive best at a eonsiderable elevation above the sea, where the temperature ranges front 55' to 05' F. It will endure slight frost or a temperature of 100' where shaded. In a wild state, the bark often contains 5 per cent. or less of total alkaloids: but in eultivation. where part of the bark is removed and the denuded area covered and kept moist. as much as 25 per cent. of alkaloids has been obtained. nearly half of which was genuine.