This amazing tree comes from the highlands of South America. Over time, it was brought to other parts of the world. The cinchona tree is grown in the tropics. There is a version that the plant got its name in honor of the wife of the Viceroy of Peru, the Countess of Chinchon, after she was cured of a fever (presumably malaria) with cinchona bark in 1638.
In natural conditions cinchona prefers dense forests. Needs high humidity and moist soil.
A bit of history
More recently, one of the most common and dangerous diseases on Earth was considered malaria, which claimed thousands of lives every year. In countries with a humid and warm climate, it was especially rampant. Since ancient times, folk healers believed that the cause of this terrible disease lies in the heavy fumes rising from the swamps. Hence its name (malare - "bad air").
Not spared malaria and America. But the local natives have learned to treat this formidabledisease. They made medicine from the bark of a tropical tree. It should be noted that the natives greatly appreciated this bark, as can be judged by the name - it was respectfully called "kina-kina", which means "the main bark".
When the Europeans mastered America, they learned that there was a cure for malaria. But the natives were in no hurry to reveal the secret of "kina-kina", they kept this tree (quinine) a secret from strangers. It took years to decipher the antimalarial drug.
Malaria drug arrives in Europe
At the very beginning of the 17th century, in the Spanish colony of Peru, the post of Viceroy was occupied by Luis Cinjon. He did his best to help the Europeans uncover the secret of the antimalarial drug. In 1638, his wife Anna Tsinghon (Chinchon) fell ill with a fever (as malaria was often called in those days). And a miracle happened: she was cured with the bark of some unknown tree.
After some time, Luis Cinjon also fell ill. Illness forced him to come to Spain in 1641. With him, he brought a batch of healing bark "kina-kina". But at that time, European doctors were unable to make an effective drug out of it. A mockery of fate: Tsinkhon was the first to bring an effective cure for malaria to Europe, from which he himself died.
After that, the Europeans managed to get the healing bark from the natives in all sorts of different ways - righteous, and more often unrighteous - and bring it to their continent. In the end, the cure appeared in Europe. Particularly successful in the treatment of malaria doctor Talbor (Britain). He cured itdisease many patients. Among his grateful patients was the French King Louis XIV.
As it turned out, the technology for preparing a healing agent turned out to be surprisingly simple, like everything ingenious. The bark was ground into a fine powder and poured with wine. The result was an incredibly bitter tincture. From the native name, they began to call her "khina". The tree from which this bark was obtained, accordingly, became cinchona. At the beginning of the 19th century, the famous Russian scientist F. I. Giese found out that the alkaloid contained in it gives healing properties to the bark. It was called quinine.
Europeans faced great difficulties trying to find cinchona (medicinal) tree in the forests. And yet, despite the active unwillingness of the natives to help them, his secret was solved. As it turned out, several species of trees belonging to the madder family (Rubiaceae) have healing bark. They were combined into one genus, and the great Carl Linnaeus gave him the name Cinchona. The most widely used as a medicinal plant is the red-bark cinchona tree. The extract from this plant is still popular today. It is used in both traditional and folk medicine. But we will talk about this a little later.
Cinchona: description
This is an evergreen tree belonging to the madder family. It has a straight slender trunk, the height of which reaches twenty meters. Under natural conditions, this is a powerful plant with a dense spherical crown. The diameter of the trunk is about a meter. The trunk is covered with a brownish-gray bark, while young twigshave a reddish tint.
Leaves
Ovate, broadly elliptical, and sometimes almost round, the leaves reach a length of fifty centimeters. They are painted bright green, as a rule, shiny, leathery, pubescent along the veins. Petioles up to five centimeters long. Young leaves that have just unfolded from the buds are painted bright red, so the cinchona tree is clearly visible in the forest. Perhaps this feature, combined with the reddish tone of young branches, influenced the specific name of the plant.
Flowers
The cinchona tree, the photo of which you see in our article, has very attractive flowers collected in umbrellas. They form wide-pyramidal paniculate, large inflorescences. Each flower has a five-toothed green pubescent calyx that remains with the fruit. The pink corolla is pubescent with a long tube and five limb lobes. It has five stamens. The pistil is densely pubescent in the lower part, with a bifid stigma and a filiform style. Stamens can be of different lengths. In botany, this phenomenon is called heterostyly. This is due to the adaptation of the plant to efficient cross-pollination.
Fruits
They are an oblong two-cell box up to three centimeters long, pointed at both ends, brown-brown in color. Each nest develops up to twenty-five seeds. The seed is wrinkled and flat, light brown, and is surrounded by a broad, brittle, thinly membranous wing.
Tree destruction
We have already said that the birthplace of this plant is the tropics of South America. When people appreciated the cinchona tree (properties in particular), the destruction of this species began on a gigantic scale. Raw materials were harvested in such a barbaric way.
Unlike the aborigines, who were very careful about valuable plants, the Europeans deployed harvesting so actively that the cinchona tree was on the verge of destruction in their homeland. Trees were cut mercilessly, stripped of their bark. Fortunately, already at that time there were smart people who began to cultivate cinchona on plantations. But enough history, let's move on to more practical issues.
Cinchona: application
The main and most valuable raw material for the production of medicines is its bark. It contains 18% alkaloids, including:
- quinidine;
- quinine;
- cinchonidine;
- cinchonin and others
The main alkaloid is quinine, cinchona bark contains up to 7.5% of this substance. It has a special effect on the causative agents of malaria - it affects their plasmodia, which are contained in the blood of a sick person. Various medicinal preparations from the bark of the cinchona tree (the most effective are solutions of quinine s alts for injection) have revolutionized the fight against the most serious disease - malaria.
UK doctors forced soldiers who served in India and other colonies where malaria was common to drink tonic (quinine water), which had, likeall preparations from cinchona, incredibly bitter taste. So that the soldiers would not refuse to take this unpleasant, but necessary remedy, a little gin was added to it. This is how the custom, common today in the West, appeared and then took root - before dinner, drink whiskey and gin and tonic.
Traditional Medicine Uses
Quinine and all drinks that contain it effectively affect the human digestive system as a whole (as natural bitterness, they improve appetite, normalize the secretion of the gastrointestinal tract). In our country, foreign-made quinine, produced in the form of a solution (sterile) - dihydrochloride, is used to treat malaria patients. It is sold in ampoules for injection.
The second alkaloid - quinidine - also found application in medicine. This is a stereoisomer of quinine, which is found in the bark in fairly large quantities. In our country, quinidine sulfate powder is approved for use. It is recommended for use in arrhythmia, extrasystole, tachycardia. Cinchona bark improves digestion, has an antipyretic, astringent, antimicrobial effect. It is prescribed for lack of appetite, asthenia, indigestion, alcoholism, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, malaria, influenza.
Externally, the bark is used to treat bedsores, wounds that do not heal for a long time, since it has pronounced astringent properties.
Contraindications:
- increased individual sensitivity to quinine andquinidine;
- pregnancy.
It is not recommended to take cinchona-based preparations with anticoagulants, as it enhances their effect on the body.
Use in traditional medicine
An extract of quinone is used as an antipyretic. In addition, it actively counteracts infectious diseases (flu, for example). Next, consider the most popular recipes for preparing the drug.
Folk recipes: cinchona tea
You will need a teaspoon of dry raw materials, which should be poured with 250 ml of boiling water and insisted for ten minutes. Then the composition must be filtered. Tea is used in 40 ml thirty minutes before a meal. Such a remedy will increase appetite, normalize the digestive system.
For malaria, traditional healers recommend taking cinchona at sunrise (one serving - one sachet of powder) for five days. Then you need to take a break for two days, and then continue taking another two days. After using the remedy, you need to fall asleep. This is a necessary condition. Treatment continues for ten days.
At the origins of homeopathy
It cannot be said that cinchona bark, according to many experts, gave a powerful impetus to the development of homeopathy. At the very beginning of the use of this plant, the doctor Hahnemann (Germany) claimed that the medicine taken in small doses caused the symptoms of the disease, which in large doses cured. Thus arose the principle on which homeopathy is based - "like is curedsimilar".
Healing extract
Cinchona extract is the most valuable source of quinine. This substance is well studied. It is known for its antiseptic, astringent and tonic properties. Quinine is actively used in the treatment of fever and malaria in tropical countries. Use in large quantities in allergy sufferers may cause nausea and headaches.
Use in homeopathy
Cinchona is a medicinal plant widely used in homeopathy. It is used in low concentrations (D1 and D1) for general weakness caused by a long and severe illness, insufficient secretion of gastric juice. In such doses, quinine acts as an excellent tonic. Higher concentrations (D4 - D6) are used for neuralgia, recurrent headaches, whooping cough and bronchitis, heart palpitations, gastrointestinal diseases, problems with the biliary system, gout.
Herbal Supplement
Nutramedix uses a special technology to improve the composition and extraction of cinchona bark. This ensures the production of a full spectrum extract with the highest bioactivity.
Recommendations for use
Shake the bottle well before use. Add to four milliliters of water from one to thirty drops of the extract, wait one minute before drinking. You should start taking the drug with one drop twice a day before meals (30 minutes), the daily dosage should be increased, bringing it to thirty drops (or as prescribed).attending physician).
The extract is produced by NUTRA MEDIX. The price of a bottle (30 ml) is 2760 rubles.
Use in cosmetology
And this amazing tree (quinine) has found application in cosmetology. Preparations based on its bark are used in the manufacture of products that improve hair growth and structure. Most often, cinchona extract is used for these purposes. It has anti-seborrheic properties, and therefore effectively fights dandruff. It is introduced into the composition of therapeutic agents and anti-dandruff shampoos. Such shampoos regulate metabolism, restore hair, making it shiny and lively. The alcohol extract has a positive effect on the absorption of active nutrients by skin cells, and effectively stimulates hair growth.
Balms and shampoos containing quinine - a source of energy for weakened and tired strands. Means very gently care for them, relieve dandruff, facilitate combing. An example is Klorane shampoo and balm, which are available in 100 and 200 ml bottles (price 287 and 512 rubles).
Also, quinine is often included in various sunscreen cosmetics, as it is a natural filter that protects the skin from the damaging effects of sunlight.
In conclusion, I would like to say that cinchona really has a powerful healing effect, but we must not forget that it is a natural poison, and therefore non-compliance with the instructions, self-medication is strictly prohibited. Treatment, doses of the drug should be prescribed only by the attendingdoctor.
