cinchona

American  

[sing-koh-nuh, sin-] / sɪŋˈkoʊ nə, sɪn- /

noun

1. any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Cinchona, of the madder family, especially 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.

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cinchona British  

/ sɪŋˈkɒnɪk, sɪŋˈkəʊnə /

noun

1. any tree or shrub of the South American rubiaceous genus Cinchona, esp C. calisaya, having medicinal bark

2. Also called: cinchona bark.   Peruvian bark.   calisaya.   china bark.  the dried bark of any of these trees, which yields quinine and other medicinal alkaloids

3. any of the drugs derived from cinchona bark

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Other Word Forms

• cinchonic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of cinchona

< New Latin, the Linnaean genus name, after Francisca Enriques de Ribera, Countess of Chinchón (died 1641), who was associated with the introduction of quinine into Europe, in several accounts now considered spurious

Example Sentences

Tantalosin is a synthetic molecule inspired by alkaloids from the medical plant Cinchona.

From Science Daily • May 3, 2024

Cinchona trees grew only in the Andes, however, and there were not enough to meet the European demand.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

Quinine is a compound found in the bark of the Cinchona tree and has been used to treat malaria.

From Washington Times • Apr. 10, 2020

In fact, the success of British rule in India depended partly on the control of malaria through the establishment of local Cinchona plantations.

From Scientific American • Nov. 13, 2018

The Cinchona trees thus bored through are irremediably ruined, but there is always the hope that, as the roots remain 232sound, they may afterwards put forth new shoots.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Scherzer, Karl Ritter von