Stories
- In pictures
The cinchona tree, malaria and colonisation
Ever since the discovery of cinchona bark as a treatment for malaria in 17th-century South America, the cinchona tree has accompanied European colonisation around the world. Kim Walker tracks the human and ecological impact of this global commodity.
- Article
Unravelling genetic origins from the potato to cinchona
Starting with the humble potato, Nataly Allasi Canales reveals how researchers unearth the genetic origins of modern plant varieties, and explains why their work is so important for biodiversity.
- Article
Hunting lost plants in botanical collections
A bark specimen at Kew recalls the story of a South American man who harvested the most potent source of the only effective malaria treatment available in the late 1800s. Killed for his work and forgotten by history, Manuel Mamani was a victim of the colonial juggernaut.
- Article
Indian botanicals and heritage wars
Colonial botanical texts, as astonishingly beautiful as they are, may cast very dark shadows.
Catalogue
- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
'Cinchona handbook'
Date: 1930Reference: WA/HMM/EX/C.10Part of: Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
'Cinchona Exhibition. Printed matter'
Date: 1930-1931Reference: WA/HMM/EX/C.1Part of: Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
[Cinchona]
Date: Jun 1880Reference: WA/HSW/ED/C.6Part of: Personal papers of Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936)- Pictures
Cinchona plant (Cinchona lancifolia): flowering and fruiting stem. Lithograph, c. 1883.
Date: [1883]Reference: 24338i- Archives and manuscripts
Cinchona Tercentenary Exhibition
Date: 1930Reference: WA/HMM/EX/CPart of: Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library