Which tree is the source of quinine, the historic treatment for malaria?

The cinchona tree is the source of quinine, the historic treatment for malaria.

Cinchona is a genus of trees and shrubs native to the Andes of South America. Its bark contains quinine and related alkaloids, which were used for centuries to treat malaria. Indigenous peoples of the Andes used cinchona bark before European knowledge of it spread.

Jesuit missionaries brought the bark to Europe in the 1600s, where it became known as Jesuit’s bark or Peruvian bark. Quinine was later isolated as a chemical compound in 1820 by French chemists Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou.

Synthetic antimalarial medicines have largely replaced natural quinine for routine treatment, although quinine remains historically important. Cinchona should not be confused with neem, another tree associated with traditional remedies but not the source of quinine.