Cinchona genus is the source of a variety of alkaloids, the most familiar of which is quinine, an antipyretic (antifever) agent especially useful in treating malaria. Cinchona alkaloids include: They find use in organic chemistry as organocatalysts in asymmetric synthesis. Alongside the alkaloids, many cinchona barks contain cinchotannic acid, a particular tannin, which by oxidation rapidly yields a dark-coloured phlobaphene called red cinchonic, cinchono-fulvic acid or cinchona red. In 1934, efforts to make malaria drugs cheap and effective for use across countries led to the development of a standard called "totaquina" proposed by the Malaria Commission of the League of Nations.
Beech bark disease Beech bark disease Beech bark disease is a disease that causes mortality and defects in beech trees in the eastern United States and Europe. In North America, the disease occurs after extensive bark invasion by the beech scale insect, "Cryptococcus fagisuga". Through a presently unknown mechanism, excessive feeding by this insect causes two different fungi ("Neonectria faginata" (previously "Nectria coccinea var. faginata") and "Neonectria ditissima" (previously "Nectria galligena")) to produce annual cankers on the bark of the tree. The continuous formation of lesions around the tree eventually girdles it, resulting in canopy death. In Europe, "N. coccinea" is the primary