July i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



23 



Orinoco, and these barks pass in commerce under the 

 same name ae those first discovered. 



The cuprea bark at present in commerce is therefore 

 furnished by two very distinct regions : tlie one, just 

 described, in the great basin of the rivtr Orinoco, to 

 the South of Bogota, and the other, which was the one 

 tirst explored, in the lower part of the basin of the 

 Magdaleua river. 



Amongst the numerous cuprea barks received from 

 Bucaraiuanga, or the northern region, there is oc- 

 casionally found a relatively small quantity, which has 

 been discovered by M. Arnaud to be peculiar in con- 

 taiuinc, in place of quinine, a new alkaloid which he 

 has called ciuchonamine. 



Profe?ior Plauchon has also observed that the 

 anatiiniical structure of the bark containing cincho- 

 namine difTcrs from that of ordinary cuprea bark, 

 and has compared it to that of a Cascarilla. He 

 coucludes that if the cuprea barks have characters in 

 common which place them outside the genus cinchona, 

 they also present between themtelves such differences 

 that they ought to be considered to form specifically 

 distinct types. 



Hitherto, the plant or plants which produce cuprea 

 barks have beeniinknown to science, although the barks 

 have taken so considerable a jjlace in commerce and in 

 the manufacture of sulphate of quinine. Desiring to 

 fill this gap from a botanical ponit of view, I made 

 strenuous etibrts to obtain in Columbia specimens of 

 the plants yielding the cuprea barks, and my efforts 

 have been in great measure crowned with success. I 

 have just received documents from the two centres of 

 collection above named, which now en.ible me to de- 

 tei-mine and classify the frees which furnish the cuprea 

 cinchona, and to establish their botanical nomenclature. 

 This classification, and other facts shortly to be men- 

 tioned, raise points which seem to me to be of the 

 highest interest in relation to science, commerce, and 

 the cultivation of cinchonas, and to these point I have 

 now to call attention. 



The barks distributed in commerce at the present time 

 underthenarae of cuprea bark are aiiorded by twodistinct 

 districts. They also belong respectively, at least, to 

 two distinct species which, though nearly allied, are yet 

 different from each otber and belong to the genus Remljia, 

 which comes very near that of cinckojia and to the 

 closely allied genus cascorilla. These species are Kemijia 

 Purdieana, Wedd. (Ann. Sc. Not. [3], xi., p. 272), a 

 plant formerly discovered by Purdie in the forests of 

 Antioquia, upon the left bank of the Magdahna ; and 

 Rimijia ptdancidata,, Triana (Cinchona pi-dunculata, 

 Karsten, "Spec. Select.," i., 53, t. 26). 



My identification of the tree from the valley of the 

 Magdalena river is founded upon the "oly samples 

 that I have received of the cinchonamine-yielding 

 sort, which are identical with those of Purdie. I 

 incline to believe that ail the other cuprea barks 

 said to eome from Bucaramanga, notwithstanding 

 the difference in their chemical composition noticed 

 by M. Arnaud and the not less remarkable difference in 

 their anatomical structure indicated by M. Planchon, 

 can only be produced by the same botanical species, 

 viz., Eemijia Purdiiana; inasmuch as (1) the barks 

 containing cinchonamine have been exported to 

 Europe as being those of cuprea, without any dis- 

 tinction being made between them, except in 

 remarking thit the trees from which the bark 

 was obtained grow in a warmer locality at a 

 lower elevation than the others, without, however, 

 indicating that they might be different among them- 

 selves ; and (2) if the trees worked in the northern 

 districts bu distinct, the resemblance between the 

 one which is most abundantly exported from Bucar.i- 

 manga, and which must have been used as a standard 

 of comparison to discover the cuprea bark in the 

 south, would be less than that which exists between 



liemijia Purdiam and R. peduvcutaia, which is very 

 great at tirst sight. 



The diff'erence in the conditions of vegetation 

 where the trees yielding the two kinds of cuprea bark 

 of Bucaramanga grow would suffice, it seems to me, 

 to explain the change in the nature of the alkaloids 

 and the modifications in anatomical structure ob- 

 served in them. In any case this is a question 

 that I hope I shall be able to solve wlien sam- 

 ples of tlie common cuprea of Magdalena, which 

 T am expecting to receivii shortly, shall have arrived. 

 But there can be no doubt that if these trees are 

 distinct they must belong to very closely allied species 

 of the same genus. 



With regard to the southern district, I am in posses- 

 sion of specimens gathered at Susumuco, Villavicencio 

 Papamene and on the banks of the Guaviare, etc., local' 

 itics distant from each other and varying in elevation 

 above the .'ea level from 200 to 1,(!00 metres. Notwith- 

 standing slight variations, which cannot be considered 

 as speciti characters, all these specimens answer to 

 Rcmijia pedunculata, Triana, a species discovered by M. 

 Karsten and m.iself between Susumucoand Villavicencio' 

 and of which my fellow. traveller has published a des- 

 cription and a Hoe figure in the 'Specimitia Selecta.' 



Tlie two Columbian species of Remijia, which yield 

 the cuprea barks, have, at first sight, a very great re- 

 semblance, in habit, in the form, size and smoothness 

 of the leaves, in their infioresoeuce, and in their capsules 

 of almost the same size ; they are in reality, however 

 verv distinct and are ensily characterized. 



Remijia Purdieami has the divisions of the calvx 

 lanceolate-acute, almost linear, and muoh longer than 

 the tube of the calyx. Thr stipules are lanceolate- 

 acute and the cajisules are also lanceolate. 



Rnnijia Pedunculata ha,a the teeth of the calyx small 

 triangular and almost rounded at the apex ; the 

 stipules are obtuie, broad and obovate, and the caps- 

 ules are shorter than those of R. Purdieana, which 

 are elliptic. 



The resemblance between the barks of the two 

 species is also very great and it would be difficult to 

 find characters sufficiently marked to distinguish 

 them. They are both, in fact, hard, very compact, 

 relatively heavy, the inner surface smooth and more 

 or less of a wine-red tint, the epidermis thin or more 

 or less corky, and striated longitii.iinally. The fracture 

 is not fibrous, as in many ciuchononas. 



The cuprea b.ark which yields cinchonamine is, how- 

 ever, heavier and more compact and more filled with 

 red resinous colouring matter, and its facture generally 

 apjiears to be horny. 



'Ihe yield of quinine from cupred barks varies between 

 •0 and 2 per cent., according to the conditions of veget- 

 ation of the trees, which liave not yet been sufficiently 

 studied. In tliis respect they resemble the officinal 

 cinchonas. In both cases it appears that the alkaloids 

 increase in proportion as the trees approach nearer to 

 the upper limit of their zone of vegetation and are 

 better protected by the great forest. 



From a chemical point of view, the characteristic 

 and remarkable feature with distinguishes the cuprea 

 barks from the true cinchonas is tlie absence of cin- 

 chonidine, which has been ascertained by numerous 

 aualyses made by M. Arnaud, confirming the results 

 obtained by other chemists. 



In cuprea bnrks, qninidine would also be always 

 proportionately mora abundint tiian in other cinchona 

 barks, which would permit the formation of the double 

 en]t of this alkaloid with quinine, and would produce 

 according to Mr. C. H. Wood and Mr. E. L. Barret 

 {Vhet'iicat News, vol. xlv., p. 6, and Moniteur Sctentifique, 

 3rd S3r., xii., p. 14S), the new supposed alkaloid,' 

 the discovery of which was announced almost simul- 

 taneously in England by Mr. D. Howard and 

 Mr. J. Hodgkin, on the one part, and by Dr. B. H, 



