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Myroxylon peruiferum

Myroxylon peruiferum
Photo: Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0
Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Tree
Native range
Mexico to NW. Argentina
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Myroxylon peruiferum, or quina, is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to tropical forests of North and South America.

There is some historical documentation that could indicate this tree was the original species used to produce the fever remedy known as Peruvian Bark or Jesuit's Bark, which was synthesized by Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s from their observations of indigenous healers working with local flora. This remedy later became connected to the cinchona tree, also native to Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, which produces quinine, a natural alkaloid that is effective against malaria. The two trees are not in the same taxonomic order or family.

Other Myroxylon plants

Balsam of Tolu · Myroxylon

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Myroxylon peruiferum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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.

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