Question
Question: Which part of the _Cinchona_ plant, a drug is obtained? (a) Bark (b) Pericarp (c) Leaf (d) E...
Which part of the Cinchona plant, a drug is obtained?
(a) Bark
(b) Pericarp
(c) Leaf
(d) Endosperm
Solution
These are the external layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants it includes are trees, woody vines, and shrubs. They refer to all or any tissues outside the vascular cambium and are a nontechnical term.
Complete answer:
Cinchona has been anciently required for its medicinal importance as the bark of various species obtained quinine and other alkaloids that were the single effective treatments against malaria. The bark was dried into what were called quills then powdered for medicinal uses. The bark contains alkaloids, including quinine and quinidine. Cinchona is the only economically practical source of quinine, a drug that's still recommended for the treatment of falciparum malaria. The bark of trees during this genus is the source of a spread of alkaloids, the foremost familiar of which is quinine, an antipyretic (anti-fever) agent especially useful in treating malaria.
Additional information:
Cinchona plants belong to the Rubiaceae family. They are large shrubs or small trees with evergreen foliage, growing 5 to 15m tall. The leaves are opposite, circular to lanceolate, and 10 to 40 cm lengthy. The flowers may be white, pink, and red, manufactured in terminal panicles. The fruit is a little capsule containing various seeds. An important feature of the genus is that the flowers possess marginally hairy corolla lobes.
So, the correct answer is ‘Bark’.
Note:
Cinchona is a genus of angiosperms plants. They are found within the family of Rubiaceae containing a minimum of 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are indigenous to the tropical Andean forests of western South America. Alongside the alkaloids, most Cinchona barks include bicinchoninic acid, a specific tannin, which by oxidation rapidly produces a dark-colored phlobaphene, known as red Cinchona.