cinchona

cinchona
—cinchonic /sin kon"ik/, adj.
/sing koh"neuh, sin-/, n.
1. any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Cinchona, of the madder family, esp. C. calisaya, native to the Andes, cultivated there and in Java and India for its bark, which yields quinine and other alkaloids.
2. Also called Jesuit's bark, Peruvian bark. the medicinal bark of such trees or shrubs.
[ < NL, the Linnaean genus name, after Francisca Enriques de Ribera, Countess of Chinchón (d. 1641), who was associated with the introduction of quinine into Europe, in several accounts now considered spurious]

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Any of about 40 species, mostly trees, that make up the genus Cinchona in the madder family.

Cinchona is native to the Andes Mountains. Four species have been cultivated in tropical regions for hundreds of years, mostly in Java and, since World War II, in Africa. The bark is processed to obtain various alkaloids. The most significant are quinine, used to treat malaria, and quinidine, used mainly for cardiac rhythmic disorders. High demand for quinine among Europeans living in the tropics led naturalists to smuggle cinchona seeds from South America to plantations in Asia in the mid 1800s and to conduct intensive research leading to new high-yield strains and improved processing methods.

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▪ plant genus
 genus of about 40 species of plants, mostly trees, in the madder family (Rubiaceae), native to the Andes of South America. The flowers are small and usually creamy-white or rose in colour.

      Four species of Cinchona were cultivated for many years, primarily in Java and also in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Their bark was processed to obtain quinine, which is used in the treatment of malaria and for fever and pain, and quinidine, which is used mainly for cardiac rhythmic disorders. An explosion in demand for quinine among Europeans living in the tropics led naturalists to smuggle Cinchona seeds from South America to plantations in Asia in the 1850s and '60s and to conduct intensive research leading to new high-yield strains and improved processing methods.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cinchona — (S) …   EthnoBotanical Dictionary

  • Cinchona — Cinchona …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cinchona — Cin*cho na, n. [So named from the wife of Count Chinchon, viceroy of Peru in the seventeenth century, who by its use was freed from an intermittent fever, and after her return to Spain, contributed to the general propagation of this remedy.] 1.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Cinchōna — L. (Chinarindenbaum, Fieberrindenbaum), Gattung der Rubiazeen, benannt nach der Gräfin von Chinchon, Gemahlin des Vizekönigs von Peru (s. unten), höchst elegante, kahle oder filzig behaarte Bäume oder Sträucher mit gegenständigen, elliptischen… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • cinchona — [sin kō′nə] n. [ModL: coined by LINNAEUS Carolus after the Countess del Chinchón, wife of a 17th c. Peruvian viceroy, who was treated for fever with the bark] 1. any of a genus (Cinchona) of tropical South American trees of the madder family,… …   English World dictionary

  • Cinchōna — (Cinch. L.), nach der Gräfin Cinchon (Gemahlin des Grafen Cinchon, Vicekönigs von Peru, die nach ihrer Zurückkehr nach Spanien 1632 zur Bekanntwerdung der Chinarinde wesentlich beitrug) benannte Pflanzengattung, aus der Familie der Rubiaceae… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Cinchona — Cinchŏna, Pflanzengattg., s. Chinarinde [Abb. 345] …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Cinchona — Cinchona, s. Chinarinde …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • cinchona — |ô| s. f. [Botânica] Gênero de rubiáceas a que pertence a quina …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • cinchona — ► NOUN ▪ a medicinal drug obtained from the bark of a South American tree, containing quinine and related compounds. ORIGIN named after the Countess of Chinchón (died 1641), who brought the drug to Spain …   English terms dictionary

  • Cinchona — For other uses, see Cinchona (disambiguation). Cinchona Cinchona pubescens flowers Scientific classification Kingdom …   Wikipedia

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