378 PLANTS AND MAN 



they are sorted and aged. The United States has always led in 

 producing the world's tobacco supply, although large amounts 

 are produced by India, Russia, the Philippines, Turkey and 

 other countries. Different kinds of manufactured tobacco 

 products demand different types of tobacco. Thus tobacco, in 

 sorting and grading, is classified as to its intended uses, such as 

 cigar wrappers, cigar fillers, cigarette tobacco, chewing tobacco, 

 and pipe tobacco. 



Drugs Obtained from Plant Stems 



The valuable alkaloid drug, ephedrine, is produced by 

 several members of the genus Ephedra, low leafless shrubs with 



Fig. 246. — Quinine comes from the bark of cinchona trees, native to South 



America. 



slender green stems. Although several species of this plant are 

 found in arid parts of the United States, those producing the 

 drug are found in Asia, notably China where it has been used 

 for over five thousand years. Ephedrine is extracted from the 

 entire woody plant, and has become of increasing importance 

 as an ingredient of nose drops, for relief from nasal congestion 

 accompanying colds, hay fever, and as an aid in the treatment 

 of asthma. 



The great importance of quinine in the world's drug markets 

 today is due to its specific action in killing the malarial parasites 

 in man, thus curing the once dreaded malarial fever. Cinchona 

 trees, the hard thick bark of which yields quinine, are natives 



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