Cinchona pubescens Cinchona pubescens Cinchona pubescens, also known as red cinchona and quina (Quechua) ( "Cascarilla, cinchona"; "quina-do-amazonas, quineira"), is native to Central and South America. It is known as a medicinal plant for its bark's high quinine content- and has similar uses to "Cinchona officinalis" in the production of quinine, most famously used for treatment of malaria. "C. pubescens" varies from small to large in size, growing to 10 meters in height (33 ft). When cut, the bark tends to turn red. Leaves are elliptical to oblate and thin. The leaves have pubescent teeth that turn red when they are older,
Cinchona was finally described carefully by the astronomer Charles Marie de la Condamine who visited Quito in 1735 on a quest to measure an arc of the meridian. The species he described, "Cinchona officinalis," was however found to be of little therapeutic value. The first living plants seen in Europe were "C. calisaya" plants grown at the "Jardin des Plantes" from seeds collected by Hugh Algernon Weddell from Bolivia in 1846. José Celestino Mutis, physician to the Viceroy of Nueva Granada, Pedro Messia de la Cerda gathered information on cinchona in Colombia from 1760 and wrote a manuscript "El Arcano de