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Cinchona officinalis
Also called Lojabark, Quinine Bark
Cinchona officinalis is a South American tree native to wet montane forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, grown mainly for its medicinal bark. It is hard to keep as a garden plant outside its cool, humid, high-altitude native conditions.
Cinchona officinalis is a South American tree in the family Rubiaceae. It is native to wet montane forests in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, between 1600–2700 meters above sea level. It is the national tree of Peru.
Cinchona bark and its quinine alkaloids can cause cardiac sodium and potassium channel blockade, CNS and renal toxicity. Cinchonism trio: GI upset, headaches, and tinnitus. Ventricular arrhythmias, hypoglycemia, renal failure, respiratory failure, jaundice, death
Cinchona officinalis is a medicinal plant, one of several Cinchona species used for the production of quinine, which is an anti-fever agent. It was historically important in the prevention and treatment of malaria, before being superseded by synthetic and semi-synthetic antimalarial drugs, many of which are derivatives of Cinchona alkaloids. Other alkaloids that are extracted from this tree include cinchonine, cinchonidine and quinidine.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cinchona officinalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
