[The native Mexican name.] A shrub of Mexico and Central America, Croton pseudo-China or niveus, N. O. Euphorbiaceæ, yielding the Copalchi-bark, used as a febrifuge, as a substitute for quinine; also a Brazilian tree Strychnos pseudo-China, to the bark of which the same properties have been ascribed.
1866. Treas. Bot., 351. Croton pseudo-China, called in Mexico Copalche yields a bark … used in Mexico in place of cinchona. Ibid., 1106. Strychnos pseudo-China, a native of Brazil, yields Copalche-bark, which is largely used in that country in cases of fever.
1882. Syd. Soc. Lex., Copalchi bark.
Hence Copalchine, the bitter alkaloid of Copalchi bark. (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1882.)
