From the bark of what tree is the anti-malarial drug quinine often taken?

navaho56

Quinine was extracted from the bark of the South American cinchona tree and was isolated and named in 1817 by French researchers Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou. The name was derived from the original Quechua (Inca) word for the cinchona tree bark, "Quina" or "Quina-Quina", which roughly means "bark of bark" or "holy bark". Prior to 1820, the bark was first dried, ground to a fine powder and then mixed into a liquid (commonly wine) which was then drunk. http://www.lycos.com/info/quinine--bark.html [Added reference link - McG] Dec 03 07, 5:25 AM