Cinchona Totaquina required a minimum of 70% crystallizable alkaloids of which at least 15% was to be quinine with not more than 20% amorphous alkaloids. There are at least 24 species recognized by botanists. There are likely several unnamed species and many intermediate forms that have arisen due to the plants' tendency to hybridize. Cinchona Cinchona is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. They are native to the tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are reportedly naturalized in Central America, Jamaica, French Polynesia, Sulawesi, Saint
Cinchona viceroy in Lima. While the veracity of the claims and the details are highly debated leaving it best treated as a legend, the curative properties were known even earlier. The history of the plant, their extracts, and the cures are however highly confused and controversial. Suggestions that the plant went by the native name of Quina Quina which yielded Quina bark have been questioned. Other fever cures from South America were known as Jesuit's Bark and Jesuit's Powder in Europe earlier but although they have been traced to "Cinchona", there is evidence of materials being derived from other species such