Cinchona

(sin-ko’ ’-nah) [from the Counte Cinchon\. Peruvian bark. The bark of several varieties of cinchona, a tree native to the eastern slopes of the Andes, the most valuable being C. calisaya. Other varieties are C. succirubra, red bark, C. cond a mine a, pale bark, C.pitayenis, pitaya bark, and C. micraniha. Cinchona bark contains 21 alkaloids, of which 4, quinin, cinch on in, quinidin, and cinch on i din, are the most important. Cinchona has the same physiologic action and therapeutic uses as its chief alkaloid, quinin. See Quinin. It is also an astringent, bitter and stomachic tonic, stimulating appetite and promoting digestion, beneficial in atonic dyspepsia and adynamia, but especially useful in malarial affections. C, ch221.xhtml d 194