Quechua people Quinine, which is found naturally in bark of cinchona tree, is known to be used by Quechuas people for malaria-like symptoms. When chewed, coca acts as a mild stimulant and suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue; it is also used to alleviate altitude sickness. Coca leaves are the raw material from which cocaine, one of Peru's most historically important exports, is chemically extracted. Many indigenous women wear the colorful traditional costume, complete with bowler style hat. The hat has been worn by Quechua and Aymara women since the 1920s, when it was brought to the country by British railway workers.
Bark (botany) the ground to where the main branching starts) of the tree. Bark tissues make up by weight between 10–20% of woody vascular plants and consists of various biopolymers, tannins, lignin, suberin, suberan and polysaccharides. Up to 40% of the bark tissue is made of lignin which forms an important part of a plant providing structural support by crosslinking between different polysaccharides, such as cellulose. Condensed tannin, which are in fairly high concentration in bark tissue, is thought to inhibit decomposition. It could be due to this factor that the degradation of lignin is far less pronounced in bark tissue than