cinchona

The dried bark of the root and stem of various species of C., a genus of evergreen trees (family Rubiaceae), native of South America but cultivated in various tropical regions. The cultivated bark contains 7 to 10% of total alkaloids; about 70% is quinine. C. contains more than 20 alkaloids, of which two pairs of isomers are most important: quinine and quinidine, and cinchonidine and cinchonine. SYN: bark (2), c. bark, Jesuits bark, Peruvian bark, quina, quinaquina, quinquina. [C., fr. Countess of Chinch′on]

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cin·cho·na siŋ-'kō-nə, sin-'chō- n

1) cap a large genus of So. American trees and shrubs of the madder family

2) a tree of the genus Cinchona

3) the dried bark of any of several trees of the genus Cinchona (esp. C. ledgeriana and C. succirubra or their hybrids) containing alkaloids (as quinine, cinchonine, quinidine, and cinchonidine) and being used esp. formerly as a specific in malaria, an antipyretic in other fevers, and a tonic and stomachic called also cinchona bark, Jesuits' bark, Peruvian bark

Chin·chón chin-'chōn Countess of (Doña Francisca Henriquez de Ribera) vicereine. According to a legend first given out in 1663 and supposedly based on a now-lost letter, Countess Chinchón, the wife of the viceroy of Peru, fell ill with malaria. The governor of a neighboring province quickly provided a remedy in the form of a certain tree bark. The countess experienced a seemingly miraculous recovery, and word of the bark's extraordinary powers quickly spread. The name of the countess henceforth became associated with the bark. While the story is apocryphal, Linnaeus perpetuated the name of the countess, albeit in misspelled form, by designating the genus of that tree Cinchona in her honor.

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n.

the dried bark of Cinchona trees, formerly used in medicine to stimulate the appetite and to prevent haemorrhage and diarrhoea. Taken over prolonged periods, it may cause cinchonism. Cinchona is the source of quinine.

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Cin·cho·na (sin-koґnə) [Francisca Henrнquez de Ribera, Countess of Chinchуn, 1576–1639] a genus of South American trees of the family Rubiaceae, the source of the medicinal bark called cinchona. The major species used are C. succiruґbra Pavon et Klotzsch and its hybrids (red cinchona), C. calisaґya Weddell, and C. ledgeriaґna (Howard) Moens et Trimen and its hybrids (yellow cinchona).