CORTEX CINCHONA 341 



passes northward into the Peruvian province of Carabaya, suddenl}- 

 ceasing on the confines of the valley of Sandia, although, as Weddell 

 observed, the adjacent valleys are to all appearance precisely similar. 



When well gi-own, C. Calisaya has a trunk often twice as thick as a 

 man's body, and a magnificent crown of foliage overtopping all other 

 trees of the forest. It has ovate capsules of about the same length 

 (h an inch) as the elegant pinkish flowers, which are in large pyramidal 

 panicles. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, of very variable form, but 

 usually oblong and obtuse, rarely acute. 



A variety named after Joseph de Jussieu who first noticed it, /8. 

 JosepMana, but known in the country as Ichu-CascariUa or Cascarilla 

 del Pajonal, difiers from the preceding in that it is a shrub, 6 to 10 feet 

 high, growing on the borders of mountain meadows and of thickets in 

 the same refjions as the larger form. 



Other forms known in Bolivia as Calisaya zamha, Tnorada, verde or 

 alta, and blanca, have been distinguished by WeddeU as varieties of C. 

 Calisaya. 



Towards the middle of the year 1865, Charles Ledger, an Engh'sh 

 traveller, obtained seeds of a superior Cinchona, which had been col- 

 lected near Pelechuco, eastwards of the lake Titicaca, about G8° W. 

 long, and 15° S. lat., in the Bolivian province of Caupolican. In the 

 same year the seeds arrived in England, but were subsequently sold to 

 the Dutch government, and raised with admirable success in Java, and 

 a little later also iu private plantations in British India. The bark of 

 " Cinchona Led^eria^aa " has since proved by far the most productive 

 in quinine of all Cinchona Barks. The tree is a mere form of C. 

 CalLsaya.^ 



3. C. succlruhra Pavon,^ — a magnificent tree, 50 to 80 feet high, 

 formerly growing in all the valleys of the Andes which debouch in the 

 plain of Guayaquil. The tree is now almost entirely confined to the 

 forests of Guaranda on the western declivities of Chimborazo, at 2,000 

 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. 



The bark appears to have been appreciated in its native country 

 at an early period, if we may conclude that the Red Bark mentioned 

 by La Condamine in 1737 was that under notice. It would seem, 

 however, to have scarcely reached Europe earlier than the second half 

 of the last century.* The tree has broadly oval leaves, attaining about 

 a foot in length, nearly glabrous above, pubescent beneath, large ter- 

 minal panicles of rosy flowers, succeeded by oblong capsules 1 to 1^ 

 inches long. 



The other species of Cinchona, the bark of which is principally 

 consumed by the manufacturers of quinine, will be found briefly noticed, 

 together with the foregoing, in the conspectus at page 355. 



History — The early native history of Cinchona is lost in obscurity. 

 No undoubted proofs have been handed down, to show that the abori- 

 gines of South America had any acquaintance with the medicinal 

 properties of the bark. But traditions are not wanting. 



^ Ledger's Calisaya is beautifully figured 2 Figured in Howard's Nueva Qumologia, 



and exactly described in Howard's Qulno- art Chinchona mccirubra. 



joffy of the East Indian Plantations, parts ' Howard, I.e. p. 9. 

 ii and iii. 



