Manuel Incra Mamani was a Bolivian Incan ''cascarillero'' (bark and seed hunter) who found a

cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

tree that had a higher proportion of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...

than most others. It went into commercial cultivation, providing most of the world's quinine.

Life and work

Mamani was an experienced bark and seed collector, and had worked for

Charles Ledger Charles Ledger (4 March 1818 – 19 May 1905)B. G. Andrews,, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, MUP, 1974, pp 73-74. Retrieved 9 Sep 2009 was an alpaca farmer noted for his work in connection with quini ...

since 1843. He was able to identify 29 different sorts of cinchona trees. Mamani waited through four years of unsuitable weather (frosts destroyed the seeds from the high-quinine plants), and gave offerings to mountain spirits, in order to obtain a sample of seed from the high-quinine cinchona in 1865. The seeds that Mamani provided were sent to Ledger's brother, George, who then sold them to the Dutch government, who then cultivated plants in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

. The plant that Mamani collected seed from was later named ''Cinchona'' ''ledgeriana''. He is noted only as a "native" in some accounts of its finding and cultivation. Local people disapproved of Mamani helping Ledger.

Death

In 1871, whilst on a seed-collecting trip, Mamani was arrested, imprisoned and beaten. Some have suggested that this was likely because of his providing seeds to foreigners. Others suggest it was because he refused to identify his employer. He subsequently died of his injuries.

References

{{reflist 19th-century Bolivian people 1871 deaths Plant collectors