CINCHONA

The generic name of certain trees yielding a bitter febrifuge bark, the virtues of which are to be ascribed to the presence of the vegetable alkaloids called cinch on i a and quinia. Three species of cinchona bark are directed in the London Pharmacopoeia to be kept for medical use; namely, the pale, yellow, and red barks. The first oi these is furnished by C. cond a mine a, and contains cinch on i a; the second, yielded by C. lanceolata, produces quinia; and the third, whose origin is not ascertained, po e es a mixture of the two. CINCHONACEiE. (Cinchona, one of the genera.) A natural order of shrubby or arborescent Exogens, almost exclusively inhabiting the tropics and the hotter parts of the world. They are in some respects allied to Composites, from which their distinct stamens, bilocular or plurilocular ovary, and inflorescence distinguish them. They are divided from Apocynaceee by the aestivation of the corolla, the presence of stipules, and the inferior ovary; although, according to Brown, there exists a genus in equinoctial Africa which has the interpetiolary stipules and seeds of Cinchonacece, and the superior ovary of Apocynacece, thus connecting the two orders. They are most nearly related to Caprifoliacece, being only separated from them by their interpetiolary stipules. Brown describes a tribe called Opercularinece as having but one seed, and the number of stamens unequal to the lobes of the corolla; thus occupying, as it would seem, an intermediate position between Cinchonacece and Dipsacece. Powerful febrifugal properties in their bark or emetic in the roots are the great features of this order, the most efficient products of which are cinchona axid ipecacuanha. Many of the plants of the order are fragrant and of great beauty; but, with the exception of the Gardenea, Lucula, and a few others, the handsome kinds are hardly known to cultivators. [s. 247]