Homemade Quinine recipe

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Wild Quinine - Parthenium integrifolium... The USDA says it grows all over the southeast. However, I've only seen it once growing wild.

Parthenium integrifolium was used to treat malaria by native americans and as a substitute for quinine by the US Army. This plant is sometimes called feverfew.

Be aware, there is another, different plant also called feverfew, Tanacetum parthenium which should not be confused with Parthenium integrifolium. They are very different plants in looks and uses. Yet, I've seen herbalists confuse these plants so use caution.

Edit... of Note... both species are used to treat fever, so they are similar in that respect, but that's were similarities end.

These are photo's of Parthenium integrifolium, the only time I've seen it growing wild.

Wild Quinine 01.jpg
Wild Quinine 02.jpg
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Peanut.
Do you have a source of seeds?

All the usual internet sources like prairie moon and other wild flower seed dealers, take your pick.

I intended to get seeds years ago but I discovered there is another wild plant that is far more common and more effective at treating malaria.

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/boneset.9477/
So, I no longer had need of wild quinine seeds. But I do know where it grows so if I have need of it I know where to look...

I wanted to elaborate a bit on my above post. The name feverfew...
One feverfew is in the genus Tanacetum and is named parthenium.
The other feverfew is in the genus Parthenium and is named integrifolium.

This only adds to the confusion between the plants, especially on prepper blogs and websites. At one time about 10 or 12 years ago 50% of the plant medicine or prepper websites I visited had these two plants confused.

So, just be aware of the situation. This is one of those occasions when folks should use the latin name when writing or referring to either plant.
 
Okay maybe it is a Southern Thing or just my dead humor.
I am saying that if I can take 10 thing to a island, to help me survival!
I would have taken a plant book 10 years ago, but now I want Peanut to go with me, just saying.
 
Hey @joel Look what I found today! 2 small patches of wild quinine! It had me confused since it's been about 7 or 8 years since I've seen it in the wild. Plus the only place I've seen it previously... it was a short, squat looking plant. These plants were over 3ft tall. I kept thinking it looked like one of the obscure milkweeds but there was no latex in the sap.

Once I got home it only took me an hour to figure it out... It's nice knowing I have a supply much closer than I had previously thought!

wild quinine (1) sm.JPG


wild quinine (2) sm.JPG


wild quinine (3) sm.JPG


wild quinine (4) sm.JPG


wild quinine (7) sm.JPG
 
Somehow over time it got in my mind that I had seen wild quinine bloom in mid to late summer. In fact I've gone out looking for it a few times in late summer and didn't see it. Last night I went though that day in my memory. It was a narrow dusty road on a ridge through a large area of clear cut timber. I remember exactly where I was at. It was hot that day. Somehow (over time) the heat and dust that day tricked my mind into thinking it was late summer.

Note - from early spring to late summer is the best time to locate wild medicinal plants. I slowly drive the same backroads each week and look at every bloom I see. It's hard to distinguish a single plant in a mass of green or brown at other times. When they bloom they stand out. That's when I file them away in my mental map. Using this method I have a mental map of every medicinal plant in a 200 square mile area.

That said I can spot a great many medicinal plants at highway speed. It takes time to learn how to do that (and a lot of miles)... For instance, at 60mph I can tell the difference between elderberry and water hemlock, two plants that look remarkably similar even when standing 10ft from them. I've learned a tremendous amount about medicinal plants and finding them from a man named Darryl Patton.

He once made a comment about writing a book titled "How to find plants at 60mp". I thought it was a joke at the time, it seemed impossible. It's not impossible, just takes practice. Start by driving little used gravel roads at 20mph, then little used country roads at 40mph... within a couple of years I could do it at highway speed, 50-60mph.

I once won a steak dinner from my dad about the identity of a species of Sumac. We were hauling cattle on the interstate at 70mph in summer. I pointed out a big stand of sumac against the woods and named the species. He could tell it was sumac but doubted my ability to name the exact species. The bet was made! On the way back I stopped on the shoulder of the interstate so we could walk to the edge of the woods for a closer look. I was right, we have winged sumac and smooth sumac here. Winged sumac blooms in early June, the other in early August. I knew that, dad didn't... lol. Also, at a distance smooth sumac leaves are a lot more shiny in appearance than winged sumac.

Long story short... if you know when a plant blooms or something about it's appearance that sets it apart from closely related plants it's easy to find on the backroads of america...
 
To me all sumac looks the same, some times I have to count the leaves on the bracket.
Dogwood & elder berry in bloom are easy to see against the back drop of the forest.
I learned to spot Butterfly weed orange flower at 55 mph when traveling North to visit family.
Never dug any, it hard to transplant, so the seeds are the way to go.
 
I posted the quinine plant pics I took on another platform. I got an unusual response. A person identified themselves as an american ex-pat doctor living in Ecuador. They wrote the following.

"I make quinine out of cinchona bark and 80+ proof alcohol / moonshine. This was a good learning post. Thank You."

He's obviously describing a "Simplers Tincture". I ran a few searches about this bark and found the following...

https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Cinchona_sp.htm
...Cinchona plants are large shrubs or small trees with evergreen foliage, growing 5-15 m (16-49 ft) in height. Several species were sought after for their medicinal value and cultivated in India and Java where they also formed hybrids. The barks of several species yield quinine and other alkaloids that were the only effective treatments against malaria...

...Cinchona was discovered in the 1630s as a treatment for malaria and, for 350 years, was the only effective cure known in Europe until synthetic replacements were developed in the 1940s. Malaria remains today one of the deadliest diseases known throughout the tropics, but up until the 20th century the disease was prevalent throughout Europe, including Britain...


This is interesting... This tree was "Quinine", at least for 350 years. I wonder if a few of these large shrubs can be ordered. I'm sure someone in the states has them, might be hard to find. Also, finding the right species might be tricky. One site listed 25 or so species in the Cinchona genus. So, just any cinchona won't work. It seems only 2 or 3 species contain the right chemicals.
 
Is there proof they actually produce quinine? By that I mean real analysis of the liquid produced?

Someone makes a claim "I did X" and got quinine. Next thing are dozens of other people with similar recipes. But did anyone have their liquid tested by a lab?

Me, I want to see the data or b) proof it actually helps people.
 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10456490/

Conclusion: These results suggest that there is no significant interaction between the parent compound quinine and grapefruit juice, so it is not necessary to advise patients against ingesting grapefruit juice at the same time that they take quinine. Since quinine is a low clearance drug with a relatively high oral bioavailability, and is primarily metabolised by human liver CYP3A4, the lack of effect of grapefruit juice on quinine pharmacokinetics supports the view that the site of CYP inhibition by grapefruit juice is mainly in the gut.
 
historically real quinine used for malaria etc came from the tree bark. ive not heard of the plant peanut posted, so thanks much, something new i can look at.

ive also seen the ''make your own quinine or hcq from graqpefruit'' recipes pop up since the covid mess. i checked it out with a chemist---while its good for the bioflavinoids,and such, tts not real quinine or hcq,---sorry i forgot the name of the chemical that sounds like quine that can be extracted but its not quinine.
 
A quick search on google confirms that my memory served me correctly . It claims the bark of the dogwood tree is a quinine substitute . This is one source readily available to a large amount of the U.S. population . How strong or effective this concoction is , I have no idea . Interestingly it said to use the dried bark and not fresh as the fresh might upset the stomach . This points toward the need to collect the bark before the sap retreats back into the roots . ---- update , On YouTube there is an interesting video made by Mike Reed on using the dogwood tree as a quinine substitute . It appears not only can the inner bark be used for this purpose but also the red berries . This tree derived medicine was used during the U.S. Civil war .
 
Last edited:
A quick search on google confirms that my memory served me correctly . It claims the bark of the dogwood tree is a quinine substitute.

This tree derived medicine was used during the U.S. Civil war .

First, it must be remembered that the south was effectively blockaded for most of the war. Everything, including the kitchen sink, was used as a quinine substitute, as a morphine substitute... and on and on and on. If there was a need, a substitute was found. Dogwood berries were actually used as a coffee substitute more often than not... along with a dozen other berries and nuts.

If your curious about plant life uses during the war check the following book. Dr. Francis Porcher was the man charged with cataloging every single useful plant in the south for the confederacy.

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/herbal-medicine-books-peanut-recommends.6745/#post-225478
Dogwood is good for intermittent chills and fevers. There are several conditions which will cause this type of fever, from gunshot wounds to malaria.

The bark is used simply because it’s the easiest part to work with. The strongest part is actually the blooms but like the berries the time spent picking either by hand makes the bark the best choice.

Tulip Poplar is another tree bark that is good for intermittent chills and fevers.
 
Last edited:
First, it must be remembered that the south was effectively blockaded for most of the war. Everything, including the kitchen sink, was used as a quinine substitute, as a morphine substitute... and on and on and on. If there was a need, a substitute was found. Dogwood berries were actually used as a coffee substitute more often than not... along with a dozen other berries and nuts.

If your curious about plant life uses during the war check the following book. Dr. Francis Porcher was the man charged with cataloging every single useful plant in the south for the confederacy.

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/herbal-medicine-books-peanut-recommends.6745/#post-225478
Dogwood is good for intermittent chills and fevers. There are several conditions which will cause this type of fever, from gunshot wounds to malaria.

The bark is used simply because it’s the easiest part to work with. The strongest part is actually the blooms but like the berries the time spent picking either by hand makes the bark the best choice.

Tulip Poplar is another tree bark that is good for intermittent chills and fevers.
Thank you for your input in this thread. 2 things: first, what I knew as feverview I also called button daisies. They look like a mini daisy. Probably one the others you indicated.
Also, I have 1 more herbal med. book coming. There were a few in particular that I thought would be extremely helpful. I had 1 or two but didn't know how reputable they were. Your list helped me figure out some good ones (I got for mountainous west vs. for down south, etc.)
 
a dr ardis talks about wormwood being used like quinine, hcq, quercetin, ivermectin that is the Ionophore for zinc (got to have the zin) to fight covid successfully. it attacks the hard cell outer shell (sorry for not having the correct scientific names) and allows the zinc to get inside to kill the virus
 

Latest posts

Back
Top