Definitions for: Quassia

[n] handsome South American shrub or small tree having bright scarlet flowers and yielding a valuable fine-grained yellowish wood; yields the bitter drug quassia from its wood and bark
[n] a bitter compound used as an insecticide and tonic and vermifuge; extracted from the wood and bark of trees of the genera Quassia and Picrasma

Webster (1913) Definition: Quas"si*a, n. [NL. From the name of a negro, Quassy,
or Quash, who prescribed this article as a specific.]
The wood of several tropical American trees of the order
Simarube[ae], as Quassia amara, Picr[ae]na excelsa, and
Simaruba amara. It is intensely bitter, and is used in
medicine and sometimes as a substitute for hops in making
beer.

Synonyms: bitterwood, Quassia amara

See Also: bitterwood tree, genus Quassia, Jamaica quassia, organic compound

Try our:
Scrabble Word Finder

Scrabble Cheat

Words With Friends Cheat

Hanging With Friends Cheat

Scramble With Friends Cheat

Ruzzle Cheat

Related Resources:
animals beginning with b
animals starting with r