Cinchona officinalis L.

  • Authority

    Andersson, Lennart. 1998. A revision of the genus (Rubiaceae--Cinchoneae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 80: 1-75.

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cinchona officinalis L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or treelet to 6 m tall and 5-6 cm dbh. Young branches densely pubescent to subglabrous. Stipules glabrous, or sparsely pubescent at base, 1.1-2 X 0.5-1 cm; petioles 0.9-2.5 cm long, glabrous or sparsely puberulent; leaf blades chartaceous when dry, 6-11 X 3-4.6 cm, elliptic or ± ovate (length:width ratio 1.8-2.7), cuneate at base, obtuse or bluntly acuminate at apex, secondary veins 68 pairs, level to prominulous above, prominulous beneath, tertiary venation ± distinctly visible, adaxial surface matte, glabrous, abaxial surface glabrous throughout, or veins sparsely puberulous, margin slightly revolute, pit domatia present and distinct, best developed in proximal part of leaf blade. Inflorescence axes ± densely pubescent. Calyx 1.5-2.2 mm long with lobes 0.8-1.3 mm, sparsely pubescent to subglabrous outside, glabrous inside, without colleters; corolla pinkish or purplish, tube 8-13 mm long, glabrous inside, lobes 3-5 mm long; filaments attached 2.2-5.4 mm (30-40% of tube length) above base of corolla tube, 6.1-6.4 mm long in short-styled flowers, 1-2.7 mm in long-styled ones, anthers 2.6-4.6 X 0.7-1 mm; ovary densely pubescent, 1.8-2 X 1.6-1.9 mm; style 4.5-4.6 mm long in short-styled flowers, 10-11 mm in long-styled ones, stigmatic lobes 1.8-2.2 mm; disk glabrous. Capsules ellipsoid to subglobose, 10-20 X 6-10 mm, acropetally dehiscent, with firmly chartaceous to ± woody endocarp 0.3-0.4 mm thick. Seeds 5.1-5.3 X 2.3-2.9 mm including wing, wing margin irregularly dentate.

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution and habitat. The spontaneous range of distribution seems to comprise only a small area in the Andes of S Ecuador (El Oro, Cañar, Azuay, and Loja; Fig. 14G). Here it seems confined to comparatively dry forests on the inner slopes of the two cordilleras and the outer, W slope of the Cordillera Occidental, at altitudes between 1700 and 3100 m. During the 19th century, C. officinalis was occasionally cultivated in India and on Java and Jamaica, apparently on an experimental scale only, since it has no, or only trace amounts of, quinine. It seems to have become naturalized in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.

  • Discussion

    Type. La Condamine, Mém. Acad. Roy. Sci. (Paris) 1738: t. 5-6. 1738 (holotype; epitype, designated here: Ecuador. Loja: Cerro de Caja-numa, La Condamine s.n. [P-JU 9899+B]). Cinchona condaminea Humb. & Bonpl., Pl. Aequinoct. 1: 33. 1808; Cinchona stupea Pav. ex Lamb., Ill. Gen. Cinchona 2. 1821, pro syn. C. condaminea Humb. & Bonpl.; Cinchona cucumaefolia Pav. ex Lamb., I11. Gen. Cinchona 2. 1821, pro syn. C. condaminea Humb. & Bonpl.; Cinchona peruviana Mutis in Sm., Select. Corresp. Linnaeus 2: 530. 1821, based on Cinchona officinalis L.; Cinchona vritusino Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 352. 1830, pro syn.; Cinchona condaminea [var.] vera Wedd., Hist. Nat. Quinquinas 37. 1849; Cinchona officinalis [var.] condaminea (Humb. & Bonpl.) Howard, Proc. Internatl. Hortic. Exhib. Bot. Congr. London 202. 1866. Type. Ecuador. Loja: Without further notes, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (lectotype, B-W 4031:1, designated by Andersson, 1994: 50; possible isolectotypes, P, P-LA, US). Cinchona legitima Ruiz ex Laubert, Bull. Pharm. I, 2(7): 292. 1810. Type. Ecuador. Loja: Cerro de Cajanuma, La Condamine s.n. (lectotype, P-JU 9899+B, designated here). Cinchona academica Guibourt, Hist. Nat. Drogues Simples 3: 98. 1822. Type. Based on La Condamine, Mém. Acad. Roy. Sci. (Paris) 1738: tabs. 5, 6. 1738. Cinchona macrocalyx [var.] obtusifolia Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 353. 1830; Cinchona obtusifolia Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 353. 1830, pro syn.; Cinchona coccinea Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 353. 1830; pro syn. Type. Ecuador. Loja: [Tafalla in] Pavón 552 (lectotype, G, designated by Andersson, 1994: 50). Cinchona macrocalyx [var.] uritusinga Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 353. 1830; Cinchona uritusinga Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 353. 1830, pro syn. Type. Ecuador. “Quito,” [Tafalla in] Pavón s.n. (lectotype, G ex herb. Moricand, designated by Andersson, 1994: 51). Cinchona condaminea [var.] chahuraguera Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 352. 1830; Cinchona chahuraguera Pav. ex DC., Prodr. 4: 353. 1830, pro syn. Type. Ecuador. “Quito,” [Tafalla in] Pavón s.n. (lectotype, G ex herb. Moricand, designated by Andersson, 1994: 51, G-DC-fragment ex herb. Dunant). Cinchona chahuraguera Pav. in Howard, Ill. Nueva Quinol. Pav. t. [1]. 1859. Type. Ecuador. Loja: “ex Loxa,” 1805, [Tafalla in] Pavón 550 (lectotype, MA, designated by Andersson, 1994: 51, photo GB; isolecto-type, P, F-fragment). Cinchona crispa Tafalla ex Howard, Ill. Nueva Quinol. Pav. t. [9]. 1859; Cinchona officinalis [var.] crispa (Howard) Howard, Proc. Intematl. Hortic. Exhib. Bot. Congr. London 203. 1866. Type. Ecuador. Loja: Loja, Seemann 888 (K). Cinchona uritusinga Pav. in Howard, Ill. Nueva Quinol. Pav. t. [19]. 1859; Cinchona officinalis [var.] uritusinga (Pav.) Howard, Proc. Intematl. Hortic. Exhib. Bot. Congr. London 203. 1866. Type. Ecuador. Loja: “ex Loxa,” [Tafalla in] Pavón 570 (lectotype, MA, designated by Andersson, 1994: 51, photo GB; isolectotype, P). Cinchona palton Pav. in Howard, Ill. Nueva Quinol. Pav. t. [17]. 1859; Quinquina palton (Pav.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 295. 1891. Type. Ecuador. Loja: “in collibus Yunza prope Mazana Maca, ms Loja Provincia,” 1805, [Tafalla in] Pavón 554 (lectotype, MA, designated by Andersson, 1994: 51, photo F-29637; isolectotypes. F-fragment, K, P). Cinchona suberosa Pav. in Howard, Ill. Nueva Quinol. Pav. ad calcem. 1862. Type. Ecuador. Loja: “ex Loxa,” 1805, [Tafalla in] Pavón 558 (lectotype. MA, designated by Andersson, 1994: 51, photo F-29640; isolectotypes. F-fragment, K, P; probable isolectotypes, MA-2 without labels). Cinchona subcordata Pav. in Howard, I11. Nueva Quinol. Pav. ad calcem. 1862. Type. Ecuador. Loja: “ex Loxa,” 1805, [Tafalla in] Pavón 558 (lectotype, P. designated by Andersson, 1994: 51; isolectotypes, F-fragment, MA). Cinchona officinalis [var.] bonplandiana-colorata Howard, Proc. Internad. Hortic. Exhib. Bot. Congr. London 203. 1866. Type. Based on Howard, 111. Nueva Quinol. Pav. t. [1: 1], 1859. Cinchona officinalis [var.] bonplandiana-lutea Howard, Proc. Internad. Hortic. Exhib. Bot. Congr. London 203. 1866. Type. Based on Howard, I11. Nueva Quinol. Pav. t. [1: 2], 1859. Nomenclatural notes. The typification of C. officinalis was discussed by Andersson (1994: 51-52), and it was concluded that the La Condamine plates cited above constitute a holotype. The interpretation of these plates is supported by a specimen in P-JU (9899+B) consisting of detached leaves and annotated (manu A. de Jussieu) “feuilles de larbre du Quinquina / Ce enchantillon de feuilles et fruits sont ceux envoyé du Perou par M. Lacondamine en 1738 avec son memoire sur le quinquina imprimé dans les memoires de l'academie des sciences” The Tokyo Code (Article 9.7) makes it possible to give this supporting specimen formal status as an epitype. It seems obvious from the protologue that the name Cinchona legitima was intended for “the true Loja bark”; it is therefore herewith typified on the epitype of C. officinalis. Vernacular name. Uritusinga (Ecuador). Cinchona officinalis is characterized by its proportionally narrow, chartaceous leaf blades, which are matte above and have distinct pit domatia, these being best developed in the proximal part of the blade. It is readily confused with C. calisaya, from which it differs in having domatia best developed in the proximal (vs. distal) half of the leaf blade, (usually) proportionally longer calyx lobes (lobes more than vs. less than half the total calyx length), and a woody (vs. chartaceous) endocarp. Cinchona officinalis is usually distinct from C. calisaya also in having a ± distinctly bluntly acuminate (vs. rounded to obtuse) leaf apex. Many names were synonymized under C. officinalis by Standley (1930, 1931a, 1931b, 1936). These synonymizations seem to have been based on a broad and vague circumscripton of C. officinalis, which in Standley’s conception comprised most forms with narrow, weakly hairy leaf blades. It also seems that in many cases Standley had not seen the types. In this treatment, several species are recognized that were synonymized by Standley, viz. C. lancifolia, C. lucumifolia, C. macrocalyx, and C. calisaya. Many of Standley’s synonyms are here placed under other species. Ironically, the present treatment restricts the usage of the name Cinchona officinalis to a form that has had no medicinal importance whatsoever.