QUASSIA, in botany, so named in me mory of (bassi, a negro slave, who disco vered the wood of this tree, a genus of the Decandria Monogynia class and or der. Natural order of Gruinales. Mag. nolbe, Jussieu. Essential character : calyx five-leaved ; petals five ; nectary five leaved ; perianth five, distant, each bar ing one seed. There are three species, each of which we shall notice in their or der. Q. simaruba, is a tree that grows to a considerable height and thickness, with alternate spreading branches ; the bark on the trunk of old trees is black and a little furrowed, that of younger trees is smooth, grey, and marked with broad yellow spots ; the wood is hard, white, and without any remarkable taste ; leaves numerous, alternate, composed of several leaflets, oblong, or nearly elliptic, sharp at the end, of a deep green colour, placed alternately on very short foot-stalks ; flowers on branched spikes, of a yellow colour. Simaruba is a native of South America and the West Indies ; in Jamaica it is known by the names of mountain damson, bitter-damson, and stave-wood. The drug known by the name of quassia is the bark of the roots of this tree, which is rough, scaly, and warted ; the inside, when fresh, is a fill] yellow ; when dry, it is paler ; it has a little smell ; the taste is bitter, but not disagreeable ; macerated in water, or in rectified spirit, it quickly impregnates them with its bitterness, and with a yellow tincture ; the cold infusion in water is rather stronger in taste than the decoction ; the latter gets turbid and of a reddish brown as it cools.
Q amara, grows to the height of sever al feet, and sends offmany strong branch es. The wood is of a white colour, and light ; the bark is thin and grey. It is a native of South America, particularly of Surinam, and also of some of the West Indian islands The root, bark, and wood of this tree, have all places in the materia medica. The wood is most generally used, and is said to be a tonic, stomachic, anti septic, and febrifuge.
Q. excelsa, or polygama, is likewise very common in the woodlands of Jamai ca- It is a beautiful, tall, and stately tree ; some of them being one hundred feet high, and ten feet in circumference. The trunk is straight, smooth, and taper ing, sending off its branches towards the top. The outside bark is pretty smooth, and of a light grey, or ash colour. The bark of the roots is of a yellow cast, some what like the cortex simaroba. The in ner bark is tough, and composed of fine flan fibres. The bark of this quassia, but especially the wood, is intensely bit ter. The wood is of a yellow colour, tough, but not very hard; it takes a good polish, and is used as flooring. In taste and virtues it is nearly equal to the Q. amara, and frequently sold for the same. Besides its use in medicine, quassia is sup posed to be consumed in large quantities by the brewers, to give a bitterish taste to the beer.