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
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