1077 



CINCHONA. 



CINCHONA. 



1078 



can well be more startling than the discrepancies that exist upon the 

 subject in books and collections ; every collector, every writer, has hia 

 own set of specimens and opinions, and there is no possibility of 

 reconciling them. There is not a chest of bark which, although called 

 of one sort, has not probably been furnished by many different species ; 

 and there is much reason to believe that many of the best known sorts 

 of barks of the shops are in reality furnished by the same species 

 under different circumstances. Fee asserts that gray Quinquina 

 passes into yellow by shades that cannot be distinguished; that 

 yellow approaches the red both in colour and flavour ; aud that 

 nobody knows to this day with any certainty the origin of even the 

 barks of Loxa, Lima, Huanuco, or Carthagena. Poppig, who has so 

 long lived in the Cinchona countries, seems to be of the same opinion, 

 notwithstanding the details he has given respecting certain species 

 details of which we have availed ourselves in the following observa- 

 tions. In particular, with reference to this subject, to which a vast 

 deal more importance is attached than it deserves, when speaking of 

 the Huanuco Bark of commerce, Poppig's remarks are highly deserv- 

 ing of attention. He observes that as to the various species of trees 

 that produce bark, and the different quality of the article itself, much 

 prejudice exists. Without cause one species is rejected, and another 

 prized for its imaginary qualities ; and the same species is unmean- 

 ingly divided by the bark-collectors into several, upon no known or 

 intelligible principle. Cinchona glandulifera has three names, 

 although scarcely the least trace even of varieties can be detected 

 upon the closest botanical examination. 



It is doubtful whether the species of any genus of plants are more 

 variable in their appearance than those of Cinchona ; and hence those 

 who have been acquainted with them from dried specimens only, or 

 who have not been aware of their tendency to vary, have multiplied 

 the species far beyond their true number, and an inextricable confu- 

 sion would have been the result in any genus less constantly before 

 the eyes of the botanist. Thus the authors of the 'Flora Peruviana' 

 in that work added thirteen supposed new species, and introduced many 

 more into their Herbarium ; Mutis, on the other hand, who had ample 

 means of studying Cinchonas in New Granada, declares that he was 

 acquainted with seven only. Zea asserts that all the efficacious species 

 of the ' Flora Peruviana ' are reducible to four. Fee admits eighteen 

 certain species ; and De Candolle reduces the number to fifteen. 

 although he introduces two species unknown to Fie. Humboldt 

 states that he has himself seen C. pubttcent, the yellow bark, with 

 ovate-oblong, ovate-lanceolate, and ovate-cordate leaves on the same 

 plant ; he adds, that some species, such as C. macrocarjta, have either 

 leaves entirely smooth or downy on each side, and that even C. Condn- 

 minea has extremely different leaves, according to the elevation at 

 which it grows. These statements alone are sufficient to show how 

 much caution is required in distinguishing species in this genus ; but 

 to this it is necessary to add, that there is too much reason to suspect 

 that the authors of the ' Flora Peruviana,' in creating spurious species, 

 were influenced by a wish to please the Spanish court, by appearing 

 to prove that the barks of Peru, from which the Spaniards exclusively 

 derived so large a revenue, were altogether different from those of 

 New Granada, which other nations could easily procure direct from 

 Carthagena. Humboldt adds, that mercantile cunning with reference 

 to this subject was carried so far, that at the royal command a quan- 

 tity of the best orange-coloured Cinchona bark from New Granada, 

 which Mutis had caused to be picked at the expense of the king, was 

 burned, as a decidedly inefficacious remedy, at a time when all the 

 Sp;mi*h field-hospitals were in the greatest want of this indispensable 

 product of South America. It should however be observed that 

 some oT Ruiz and Pavon's species have been restored by a recent 

 writer upon the authority of dried specimens ; but it appears to us 

 safer in such a case as this to take the opinion of a man like Humboldt, 

 who studied Cinchonas in their native forests, than that of a botanist 

 who can be acquainted with them only from Herbaria. 



In the following enumeration of the species we take De Candolle as 

 our guide in the systematic distinctions of the species, and Humboldt 

 !'<>ppig principally for the practical observations upon them. 

 After every specific name we have added the synonymous names that 

 occur in books, for the information of those of our readers who may 

 possess Materia Medica works whose nomenclature is different from 

 that of De Candolle. 



* Corollas downy on the outside or silky. 



1. C. Condaminca. Leaves oblong, tapering to each end, smooth 

 and shining, pitted on the under surface at the axils of the veins. 

 Limb of the corolla woolly. Capsules ovate, twice as long as broad. 

 This is the C. officinalii, Linn. Humboldt states this to be the fine 

 Uritucinga Bark originally seen by La Condamine. It is one of the 

 itorta imported in quantity to Europe, and is said to furnish the pale 

 bark of the English apothecaries. It is readily known, notwithstand- 

 ing the variable figure of its leaves, by their having at the axils of 

 their veins on the under side little pits not bordered with hairs, and 

 secreting a transparent bitter fluid matter. Grows wild near Loxa, 

 in the mountains of Cajanuma, Uritucinga, Boqueron, Villonaco, and 

 Monje. It also occurs near Guancabamba and Aynvaca in Peru. It 

 i always found among micaceous schist, at elevations of from 

 6400 to 7200 feet; and, according to Humboldt, requires a milder 



climate than the C. lancifolia, of Santa F6. The temperature of the 

 regions which it inhabits is about that of the Canary Islands. This is 

 the C. lancifolia of the 'London Phamacopoeia ' of 1836, and is now 

 recognised as yielding the pale bark (Cinchona, jiaUida) of the London 

 College of Physicians. 



Cinchona Cvndaminea. 



2. C. tcrobiculata (C. micrantha, ' Fl. Peruv.,' Ruiz and Pavon). 

 Leaves oval, acute at each end, smooth, shining on the upper side, 



Cinchona scrobiculala. 



pitted underneath at the axils of the veins. The tube of the corolla 

 downy on the outside , its limb woolly. Capsule ovate-oblong, three 

 times as long as broad. This is distinguished from the last not only 



