Wild quinine is a pretty distinctive and actually pretty plant. This is it -- it kind of looks like it's not quite blooming yet, but it never gets showier. It's never been my favorite because of the midicinal common name, not because of anything important about it... so I decided to find out about that. So the Cinchona tree is where the medicine quinine comes from, and is still used today to create this anit-malarial medication. I guess in WWI, the supply of cinchone bark and therefore quinine was cut off. This plant was used as a substitute. Ito does contain quinine, but not nearly as much, and don't think it works nearly as well, but it does have medicinal uses, including reducing fever and treating burns.
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