Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Cinchona calisaya

Cinchona calisaya

9.9
A South American bush or small tree with shiny leaves, grown for bark used to make the medicine quinine
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : cinchona calisaya
  • The bark of the Cinchona calisaya is widely used in the production of quinine.

Examples

  • Traditional healers have harvested Cinchona calisaya for its medicinal properties for centuries.

  • Botanists identified the tree as Cinchona calisaya due to its distinctive glossy leaves.

  • The Cinchona calisaya tree is known for its medicinal properties.

  • Can you identify the Cinchona calisaya plant in this garden?

  • The bark of the Cinchona calisaya is widely used in the production of quinine.

  • Botanists identified the tree as Cinchona calisaya due to its distinctive glossy leaves.

  • Traditional healers have harvested Cinchona calisaya for its medicinal properties for centuries.

Synonyms

calisaya
vsCinchona calisaya
  • Specialized
9.9

A small Peruvian tree with shiny leaves and yellow, green or red flowers and bark used as medicine

refers to it as South American in origin rather than specifically Peruvian

Surface Forms

Cinchona calisaya singular
Cinchona calisayasa plural

Morphology

cinchona + calisaya

This is a scientific binomial combining the genus name 'Cinchona' (a South American tree) with the species/epithet 'calisaya' (a shrub noted for its medicinal bark). If a learner already knows both constituent senses, they can readily infer that 'Cinchona calisaya' denotes that specific Cinchona shrub/tree used for its medicinal bark, so the meaning is compositionally transparent.

Etymology

Cinchona calisaya is known for its bitter bark, which people long ago used to make medicine. One popular story says a Spanish countess was cured with this bark, and because the bark gave the drug called 'quinine', the name now reminds us of a plant used 'for medicine'.