THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1882. 



The cuprea bark which yield cinchonamine is, how- 

 ever, heavier jnd more corapaci and more filled with 

 red resiuous colouring matter, and its fracture gener- 

 ally ap])ears to be horny. 



The discovery ihus made of febrifuge alkaloids in 

 the barks of a group of plants outside the genus 

 Cinchona, as defiutd by me, renders it necessary to 

 reconsider the characters upon which the genus is 

 founded and to estimate its affinities at their true value. 

 Be 'Jiindolle constituted his genus Ili-mijia from 

 Brazilian plauts which St. Hilaire, in his "'Plantes 

 Usuelles des Brazilieus," had referred to the genus 

 Gindionn, and wh ch had previously been ni'ide linown 

 by Vellozo under the name of Macrocnemmn. These 

 plants are shrubs which grow on the dry and exposed 

 summits of the mountains thnt extend from north to 

 south of the province of Minas, indicating the presence 

 of iron in the soil, according to St. Hilaire. 



According to the same author they have bitter barks 

 which singularly resemble those of the Peruvian cin- 

 chonas, and bear without distinction the names of 

 Quina lU Herra (mountain cinchona) or Quina de Eemijio 

 (the name of the person who first pointed out to 'he 

 Brazilians their use as a substitute for the officinal 

 cinchonas.) 



St. Hilaire, while acknowledging that perhaps, the 

 "Quina de Serra " plants were only varieties of one 

 species, yet referred them to three, called C'inchom 

 I}cinija'iia, C. fcrrng'tnen imd C. Vellozii, and these 

 have been retained by De CaudoUe under the new 

 name Bemijia ; but I believe, in fact, that they ouj;lit 

 to be coiifideied as forms of one speeilic type. He 

 Caridolle, adnpting the idea of St. Hibdre, who had 

 called one of these species Cinchona Remijimm, in order 

 to preserve the memory ot toe surgeon Picmijo, to 

 whom is due the u.se of these plants as febrifuges, gave 

 to his genus the name of Remijia. This genus is 

 evidently very near to Cinchona, and its affinity has 

 been rendered still more close by the discovery of the 

 cinchona alkaloids in the Columbian species of Remijia ; 

 but it IS clearly distinguished from Cinchona by its 

 axillary intioresceuce, and its capsules dehiscing from 

 above dowuards. In the last chHi-acter, as well as in 

 the analogy of the structure of their barks, the species 

 of Remijia approach more nearly to the genus Cascar- 

 ilia ; but from this genus they differ in the pnimineut 

 and remarkable character of the axillary inflorescence, 

 and also by the presence of alkaloids in their barks, 

 which have not liitherto been ditcovered in the genus 

 Caxcarilla. 



The (;enus Remijia presents then characters suffici- 

 ently well defined and constant to keep it distinct 

 from the two genera most nearly allied to it, viz.. 

 Cinchona and Canearilla. 



The writer then goes on to recognize these plants as , 

 somewhat formidable rivals in commerce of the true 

 cinchonas, after a fashion with which we cannot 

 agree. But we let the author of the puper speak for 

 himself : — 



The officinal " remijias" of Columbia, as at present 

 known, grow under conditions of elevation, soil, heat 

 and exposure almost the opposite to those which the 

 cinchon.is require, and they grow iu places only a lit- 

 tle above the level of the sea, in the liassin of the 

 Magdaleua river on one side anfi iu tlie basin of the 

 rivers Meta, Eio Negro, .and Guaviare on the other, 

 without ever reaching the elevated summits of the 

 Cordilleras. 



For the cultivation of the species yielding febri- 

 fuge alkaloids, whether in their native country or 

 elsewhere, a new and much moi-e extended ■■md 

 varied field is now opened up, and enterprizes of this 

 kind will be more numerous and their success none 

 easy and certain. The officinal " remijias," being 

 more hardy and natives of the lower parts of the 



mountains, loving warmth and not being affected by 

 drought, will lend themselves more easily to cultiv- 

 ation and more cspeoially in those iutertropicnl coun- 

 tries where the cultivation of the cinchona would he 

 impossible. The cultivation of the cinchonas in the old 

 world will also he alTectcd in consequence. 



As to the commerce in bark it has already found 

 in the genus "remijia" new sources of enterprise in 

 the peculiar conditions and circumstances of its veget- 

 .'ition, which are, as already remarked, different from 

 those of cinchona, and these may be still further iii- 

 c-eased by the possible discovery of febrifuge alkaloids 

 in oiher known species of the same genus, natives of 

 Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, or in new ones which may 

 yet be found. Probably also investigation will be 

 made of species of other genera allied to cinchona 

 which have long been oi'erlooked. 



The answer to all this seems to be that, while cuprea 

 bark is a drug iu the market, the bark of the true 

 cinchonas continues in demand at prices the average 

 of which has not been reduced with increased sup- 

 plies of the true species, and the enormous irruption 

 of the Remijia or cuprea barks. 



THE BOTANICAL SOURCE OF CINCHONA 

 CUPREA. 



BY JOSe' TKIANA. 



Since the publication of my " Nouvelles Etudes sur 

 les Quinquinas, " Dr. Hesse has remarked the appear- 

 ance in commerce of a new bark which differed from 

 those of all Uuown cinchonas in its aspect, fiensity, 

 textuie and colour, etc., but which contaned alkaloids 

 characteristic of the true cinchonas. Subsequently, 

 Professor F. A. Fluckiger, in the Neues Jahrhvch. f. 

 Pharmncie, xxxvi. - 296, stated that the same bark dif- 

 fered considerably from the cinchona barks in its anat- 

 omical structure, which he compared to that of 

 CaKcarilla niat/nifolia, and gave to the new bark the 

 name of cuprea cinchona, on account of the dull cop- 

 pery tint ot its external surface. 



During the last few years especially there h.i,ve been 

 introduced into Europe considerable quantities of new 

 barks, which have maintained in commerce the name 

 of " cuprea bark," and the importations have been 

 so large I hat the price of all cinchona barks and of 

 sulphate of quinine liave been very sensibly lowered. 



The chief emporium and centre of exportation of 

 the cuprea barks is Bucaramanga, in the State of 

 Santander, and the trees which yield them are 

 found in abundance in the mountain chain of La 

 Paz, which breaks off from the great eastern branch 

 of the Columbian trifurcaiion of the Andes, and 

 runs parallel to the course of the Magdalena river, 

 separating it from its affiuent, the Suarez. At 

 first there was one firm in Bucaramanga which ex- 

 ported the bark, and by keeping secret the use to 

 which the bark was destined, it succeeded for some 

 time in maintaining a kind of monopoly. But atten- 

 tion having been roused by the regular exportation, 

 it at length became known that these barks were con- 

 sidered to be ihe produce of cinchoui s, and were much 

 valued in Europe ; from that time an eager search 

 was made for them, and their exportation soon a.ssuined 

 such proportions that the bark market became rapidly 

 overloaded and supplied with sutJicient to last for a 

 long time. 



The impetus haviug once been given, the search for 

 cuprea bark was prosecuted in other forests of Coluinbin, 

 and barks quite equal to those of Bucaramanga were 

 found towards the base of the great eastern branch of 

 the Cordilleia of the Audes, and as far as the great 

 plaiu which extends lo the Orinoco, and in the valleys 

 of the rivers Meta and Guaviare, affluents of the river 



