Red cinchona (Cinchona succirubra, Pav.)
Original title: Quina Vermelha (Cinchona succirubra, Pav.)
The red cinchona tree, introduced to Madeira in 1867 by João Maria Moniz, which failed to establish.
A member of the Rubiaceae from the Andes, Peru and Ecuador, introduced to Madeira in 1867 by the late botanist João Maria Moniz. Of the 20 specimens that came to the island at that time, only one survived in 1909, on a quinta (country estate) a little above the church of St Lucy (Santa Luzia), where it flowered every year without, however, producing fertile seeds. Some cinchona trees planted in the parish (freguesia) of Monte (‘hill’) did not last long there. According to the late Richard Thomas Lowe, the places in Madeira where the cultivation of the red cinchona might perhaps be tried with success are the Ribeira da Metade and the Ribeira da Boaventura, the Lombada das Vacas in São Vicente, the Montado dos Pessegueiros on the Ribeira do Inferno, the Ribeira Funda near Seixal, etc., etc. Cinchona calisaya, mentioned in a work on the climate of Madeira as growing in the garden of the hospice (hospício) of Princess Maria Amélia, was never cultivated on our island.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 08
- Church of St Lucy
Funchal. Last tree survived in 1909 above this church.
The present parish church of Santa Luzia, Funchal, completed around 1741 and reached by the road beside the great wall of the Convento da Incarnação. The last red cinchona tree survived above it in 1909.
- Lombada das Vacas
São Vicente. Suggested site.
Lombada das Vacas is a locality in São Vicente. It was suggested as a site for growing red cinchona, and its forests were damaged by the fire of 1919.
- Montado dos Pessegueiros
Porto Moniz. Suggested site in Ribeira do Inferno.
Montado dos Pessegueiros is a locality in the parish and municipality of São Vicente, Madeira, with lava tubes in modern lava flows. It is one of the two remaining sites of the fern Dicksonia culcita (feto abrum) and the only one where it is frequent. It was suggested as a site, in the Ribeira do Inferno, for growing Cinchona succirubra.
- Monte
Funchal. Planted cinchonas were short-lived here.
Parish of Nossa Senhora do Monte above Funchal, at about 600 m, where leafing occurs later than in Funchal. It contains the localities of Jardim Botânico, Igreja and Marmeleiros and the Quinta de Sant'Ana. The Elucidário notes its many plants, such as acacias and Sonchus fruticosus.
- Princess Maria Amélia Hospice
Funchal. Its garden was wrongly said to hold Cinchona calisaya.
Funchal hospital for poor sufferers of pulmonary tuberculosis, founded by Empress D. Amélia in memory of her daughter, who died in Madeira in 1853. It was provisionally installed in Rua do Castanheiro in 1853, moved to a new building (1856–59) opened in 1862 with a founding inscription, and was run by the Sisters of Charity with an endowment from Queen Josefina of Sweden. Its chapel holds a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows given by Maximilian, and its gardens near Quinta Vigia hold many exotic woody species.
- Ribeira da Boaventura
Santa Cruz. Suggested site.
The Ribeira da Boaventura is one of the fullest streams of Madeira. It rises at Boca das Torrinhas and is called the Ribeira do Porco near the village.
- Ribeira da Metade
Santana. Suggested cultivation site.
The Ribeira da Metade is a stream on Madeira and a tributary of the Ribeira do Faial; its valley is overlooked by the Ribeiro Frio viewpoints, and the Ribeiro do Juncal lies in its upper reaches. It marked one limit of Lançarote Teixeira's land grant. The rare grasses Festuca albida and Anthyllis lemanniana grow in its ravine, and it was suggested as a site for growing cinchona.
- Ribeira Funda
Porto Moniz · Calheta. Suggested site near Seixal.
Ribeira Funda is the main locality of Seixal parish, Calheta, and the name of a small stream rising on the Silva and Relva peaks, with the Mendes brook as a tributary, which carries little water. A stream of this name marks Estreito da Calheta's western boundary with Prazeres and one side of Ponta da Galé, and a site near Seixal was suggested for red cinchona.
People
People mentioned · 03- João Maria Moniz1822–1898
Madeiran botanist who introduced red cinchona in 1867.
- Princess Maria Améliad. 1853
Princess after whom the hospice was named.
-
Naturalist who suggested Madeiran sites for cinchona cultivation.