Which tree does quinine come from

Utility Menu Events Blog. Story of Quinine. But it seems they knew it could be assuaged by using a preparation of the bark of the cinchona, an evergreen that grew on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains from Venezuela to Bolivia.

By , it was widely accepted as a malarial remedy. Please rate the helpfulness of this article:. The history of malaria, an ancient disease. Medical Discoveries Website. Dagani, R. Kaufman, T. The quest for quinine: Those who won the battle and those who won the war. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 44 6 , In treating malaria, the drug may be both antipyretic anti-fever and antimicrobial; meaning quinine might be treating the symptoms of the infection the fever , while also combating the microorganism itself.

Quinine has also been used to traditionally treat blood and cardiac disorders, digestive problems, and muscle spasms. Unfortunately, due to historic over-exploitation and habitat destruction, all species are endangered. Last week, your support nearly doubled a special conservation area in the northern Andes of Peru, protecting one of the few places in the country where the cinchona tree Cinchona officinali grows.

Increasingly, medicinal species that reside in natural areas have received scientific attention. But we still know little about the treasure trove inhabiting our wild places. The potential for new and diverse medicines will continue to grow!

You can protect the variety of life on the planet with Nature and Culture. Soon, British authorities started distributing locally harvested quinine to soldiers and civil servants. Today, small amounts of quinine are still found in tonic water.

But as Kim Walker, who co-authored the book Just the Tonic points out, this British origin story is likely a myth. Plus, as Schlagenhauf adds, quinine has a short lifespan in the body so sipping on a gin and tonic at cocktail hour would not be enough to guarantee protection against malaria. Still, the legacy of quinine runs deep around the world. However, the centuries-long demand for cinchona bark has left a visible scar on its native habitat. In , explorers documented 25, cinchona trees in the Ecuadorean Andes.

The same area, now part of the Podocarpus National Park , counts just 29 trees. Canales explained that the removal of quinine-rich species from the Andes has changed the genetic structure of cinchona plants, reducing their ability to evolve and change. In the absence of government protection of cinchona, local conservation groups are stepping in. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.