Which tree is the main commercial source of quinine?

The main commercial source of quinine is the genus Cinchona.

Cinchona comprises trees and shrubs native to the tropical Andes of western South America. Several species contain quinine and related alkaloids in their bark, which made the genus historically indispensable in treating and preventing malaria. Because quinine was the only economically practical source of the drug for a long period, cinchona bark became a major global commodity.

French chemists Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou isolated quinine from cinchona bark in 1820, helping make standardized dosing possible. Before that, bark was dried, powdered and mixed into liquid. In the 19th century, European powers established plantations beyond South America, especially in Java and British India.

Cinchona is often called the “fever tree,” but it is not the same as neem, teak or camphor. Quinine is also associated with tonic water, whose bitterness was traditionally balanced with sugar. Modern malaria treatment commonly uses other medicines, yet cinchona remains central to the history of antimalarial pharmacology.