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Who smuggled quinine seeds for the British?

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Clements Robert Markham entered the English navy in 1844 at age fourteen; he retired from the service in 1852. The same year, he traveled to Peru and explored the forested slopes of the Andes. In 1855 or '56 and again in the 1860s, he went back to South America searching for Cinchona, the trees that were the source of quinine. South Americans knew la quina was a major source of revenue and attempted to keep the seeds out of the hands of foreigners.

Plantation of Cinchona, Peruvian or Jesuit's Bark,
in the Nilgiri Hills Tamil Nadu State India
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According to Cheryl Motley, Markham enlisted the aid of Richard Spruce, an Englishman who had been studying the mosses of the Andes and was living in a village in Peru. Spruce obtained Cinchona succirubra seeds; they were smuggled out of South America and sent to India. By 1867, twelve hundred acres in India was under Cinchona cultivation. ("Cinchona and its Product--Quinine", Cheryl Motley, Ethnobotanical Leaflets, Southern Illinois University, 1997)

Markham was knighted for his efforts to establish Cinchona in British-held territories even if the plantations were a 'failure' in his lifetime. Markham spent his life as an adventurer and explorer, serving as geographer aboard
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Cinchona from "Phytographie Medicale"
by Joseph Roques, Published in 1821
L.f.j. Hoquart
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several ships and, later, heading the geography department in India.

Markham served as secretary and president of the Royal Geographical Society. He wrote the "Incas of Peru" and was considered the foremost authority on that conquered and lost civilization. He translated several accounts of early Spanish explorers in the Americas. In 1901, long after he had retired, Markham obtained the funding Robert Scott needed for his expedition to Antarctica. ("Sir Clements Robert Markham", Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911)

Markham died in 1916. In all, he left behind numerous scientific papers and fifty volumes of translations, biographies, and accounts of explorations. One paper published in 1867, "The Cinchona species of New Granada" was a translation of "El arcano de la quina" (The mystery of quinine).

The author of the paper had died 59 years before the work was translated and published by Markham. It is reported that Markham discovered the obscure work of José Celestino Mutis in a shed in the botanical gardens of Madrid. ("José Celestino Mutis", M. Rompel, Catholic Encyclopedia) The remainder of Mutis's botanical work would not be seen again until opened by Ellsworth Paine Killip in 1929, one hundred and thirteen years after it was shipped to Madrid. (See Plants that Changed History, May 20, 2003)

Botanical.com "A Modern Herbal" has posted an article on Peruvian Bark Cinchona succirubra. To view the article, click on the link:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/perbar29.html

Botanical.com "A Modern Herbal" has a herbarium illustration of Cinchona succirubra. To view the illustration, click on the link:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/perbar29-l.jpg

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