Quassia is a collective term for two herbs: Q. amara and P. excelsa. Q. amara, also known as Jamaican quassia, is a tree growing to 5 to 8 m (16 to 26 ft) tall and native to Brazil. It exhibits a smooth bark, pinnate and lanceolate green leaves with red veins and flowers in terminal clusters. The tree P. excelsa, also known as Surinam quassia, grows to 25 m (82 ft) in height and is native to the Antilles. It has oval, oblong leaves and flowers clustered in spikes. The part used is the wood from the branches and trunk. Quassia has a slight odor with a very bitter taste.
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Decoction or tincture as a fly poison, surrogate
for hops, medicine (anthelminthic), hair lotion, fla-
voring, alcohol denaturant.
Composition
Main constituents of the dried product and its derivatives, which do not contain tannin, include quassin, neoquassin (Q. amara), picrasmin and thiamine (P. excelsa). Picrasma yields 0.2% of bitter principles containing quassin, neo-quassin and a yellow crystalline substance. Both species of quassia have similar constituents. The alkaloids (0.25%) include canthin-6-one, carboline and 5-methoxycanthine-6-one. Q. amara contains the quassinoid quassimarin.
