Cinchona pubescens Vahl

Quinine (en), Arbre à quinine (fr), Quinquina (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Gentianales > Rubiaceae > Cinchona

Characteristics

Trees and shrubs, to 12 m tall; bark grayish brown, sometimes striped with white and/or longitudinally fissured; branches somewhat flattened to subterete or angled, densely pilosulous or hirtellous to puberulent or glabrescent. Petiole 1.5-4 cm, glabrous or puberulent to hirtellous; leaf blade drying papery, ovate, ovate-elliptic, or elliptic-oblong, 10-24.5 × 5.5-17 cm, adaxially glabrous to pilosulous or puberulent, abaxially hirtellous to pilosulous or puberulent and often reddened at least when young, base obtuse to rounded or truncate, apex obtuse to rounded; secondary veins 6-11 pairs, with pilosulous domatia; stipules 10-25 mm, sparsely pilosulous, obtuse to rounded. Inflorescences 6-23 × 6-23 cm, pilosulous or hirtellous to puberulent; bracts triangular, 0.5-3 mm; pedicels 1-3 mm. Calyx with ovary portion ellipsoid, 2-3 mm, densely pilosulous; limb 1.5-3 mm, sparsely to densely pilosulous or hirtellous, shallowly lobed; lobes triangular, 0.5-1 mm. Corolla white or pink, outside glabrescent to pilosulous or puberulent; tube cylindrical, 8.5-14 mm; lobes ovate-lanceolate, 4-6 mm, acute. Capsules 10-18(-41) × 5-7 mm, pilosulous to glabrescent; seeds 7-12 × 2-3 mm (including wing). Fl. and fr. Jun-Feb.
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Trees 5-8 m tall, the branchlets angular, glabrous, drying gray or reddish gray. Leaves oblong rotund to ovate rotund, to 30 cm long, to 20 cm wide, widely deltoid at the apex, obtuse to subrotund at the base, the costa slender, promi-nulous above and beneath, the lateral veins slender, 12-13, arcuate, the basal lateral veins often leaving the costa at right angles, the smaller veins pinnatiform, stiffly chartaceous, scarcely discolorous, drying red, glabrate above, appressed pilose oft the costa and the lateral veins beneath; petioles to 8 cm long; stipules not seen. Inflorescences paniculate, to 35 cm long, the branches opposite, angular ascending, the lowermost to 15 cm long. Flowers not seen. Fruits pedicellate, the pedicels short, the capsules narrowly oblong or narrowly ovate oblong, to 3.5 cm long, to 0.7 cm wide, minutely golden puberulent, delicately longitudinally ribbed, the persistent calyx 1-2 mm long, wider than the apex of the capsule.
A deciduous tree. It grows 10-30 m tall. The small branches are thick and hairy. The leaf blades are broadly oval. They are 45 cm long by 15 cm wide. They are thin textures and hairy on both sides. The flowering arrangement is 25 cm long. There are many flowers. They are pink or red. The fruit are capsules 2.5 cm long and are twice as long as wide.
Leaf-blades more rounded, 9–50 cm. long, 7–35 cm. wide, pubescent to glabrescent beneath.. Corolla tinged pink or red with tube 1.1–1.4 cm. long.. Capsule elongate.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 12.0 - 15.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) 1.5
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical plant. It needs a temperature above 15-18°C. It grows on steep mountain slopes in tropical forests. It grows between 300-3,900 m above sea level.
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Cool, humid, mountain regions at elevations of 1,000-3,700 metres.
Light 4-9
Soil humidity 4-6
Soil texture 3-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-11

Usage

The bark is the source of an extract used to flavour liqueurs, bitters and soft drinks. It is also used to flavour baked goods and relishes.
Uses dye environmental use food gene source material medicinal oil poison social use
Edible barks
Therapeutic use Hair loss (bark), Anti-arrhythmia agents (bark), Hair diseases (bark), Malaria (bark), Antiseptic (unspecified), Astringent (unspecified), Febrifuge (unspecified), Malaria (unspecified), Stomachic (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified), Fever (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown by cuttings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 17 - 25
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Cinchona pubescens leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Cinchona pubescens leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Distribution

Cinchona pubescens world distribution map, present in Bolivia (Plurinational State of), China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, United States of America, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Conservation status

Cinchona pubescens threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:746872-1
WFO ID wfo-0000862489
COL ID VDJ4
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 448583
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Quinquina obovata Quinquina ovata Quinquina pubescens Cinchona caloptera Cinchona decurrentifolia Cinchona goudotiana Cinchona lutea Cinchona platyphylla Cinchona purpurascens Cinchona purpurea Cinchona purpurea Cinchona rotundifolia Cinchona rufinervis Cinchona succirubra Cinchona howardiana Cinchona lechleriana Cinchona obovata Cinchona rubicunda Cinchona tucujensis Quinquina succirubra Cinchona chomeliana Cinchona colorata Cinchona cordifolia Cinchona coronulata Cinchona elliptica Cinchona govana Cinchona morado Cinchona ovata Cinchona palescens Cinchona pallescens Cinchona pelalba Cinchona pelletieriana Cinchona rosulenta Cinchona rugosa Cinchona subsessilis Cinchona pallescens Cinchona subcordata Cinchona cordifolia var. macrocarpa Cinchona cordifolia var. rotundifolia Cinchona ovata var. rufinervis Cinchona pallescens var. ovata Cinchona pubescens var. cordata Cinchona pubescens var. ovata Cinchona pubescens var. pelletieriana Cinchona pubescens var. purpurea Cinchona pubescens