Quassia Root slice Picrasma

LATIN NAME: Picrasma quassioides

COMMON NAME: Quassia

Quassia is the fine, bitter, valuable small tree of the warm woodlands, and its pale, close-grained wood has a long and careful record of use in the practice and the industry of the region. The open, round-headed tree carries the pinnate leaves of the glossy, oval leaflets, and the small, greenish flowers open in the loose panicles through the warm season, to be followed by the small, round, red-black fruits. The wood and the bark have a very long record of use, and the plant is a fine, easy, valuable tree of the warm, sheltered garden. It is a plant of the deep, rich, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

Quassia has a strong and well-documented place in the plant science, and the wood and the bark have been studied for a long time for their intensely bitter principles and their place in the traditional practice of the region. The chemistry of the pale wood, which has a very long record of use, has been looked into, and the plant keeps showing up in the work on the bitter tonics and the traditional remedies of the warm world. The pinnate leaves and the small, round, red-black fruits have also made it a fine garden tree, and it is a regular subject of the studies of the bitter woods and the medicinal trees of the warm regions.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Quassia is grown for the fine, pale, bitter wood. The wood and the bark have a very long record of use in the practice of the region, and the bitter infusions have been used for a long time in the old ways of the household and the garden. The open, round-headed tree is a fine, easy addition to the warm, sheltered garden, and the small, red-black fruits are a food for the birds. It has been written about in the botanical and the herbal papers for its intensely bitter wood and its long history of use, and it is a fine, valuable tree of the warm, sheltered garden.

Quassia is one of the great bitter plants of the warm world, and the intensely bitter wood and bark have been used for a very long time in the old ways of the household and the garden. The fine, pale, close-grained wood has also been prized for the small, useful articles of the trade, and the open, round-headed tree is a handsome, dependable addition to the warm garden.

In the right spot the quassia is a fine, dependable, long-lived tree, and it asks for very little beyond the warmth, the shelter and the well-drained ground. The small, red-black fruits follow the flowers through the warm season, and the fine, glossy, pinnate leaves keep the tree handsome through the whole year.

To grow the quassia from seed, scatter the small, round seeds over trays of moist, free-draining soil in a warm, bright, sheltered spot and water gently. The seedlings come up within a few weeks and grow on steadily. A warm, sheltered spot with the deep, rich, well-drained soil will bring the fine, glossy, pinnate leaves in a few seasons.

Constituents : Volatile oil, quassin, gummy extractive pectin, woody fibre, tartrate and sulphate of lime, chlorides of calcium, and sodium, various salts such as oxalate and ammoniacal salt, nitrate of potassa and sulphate of soda.

Quassia, found in the shops in the form of chips or raspings, has little fragrance but does have an intense bitter taste, which will always distinguish the pure drug from adulterations. Quassia wood is a pure bitter tonic and stomachic; it is also a vermicide and slight narcotic; it acts on flies and some of the higher animals as a narcotic poison. It is a valuable remedy in convalescence, after acute disease and in debility and atonic dyspepsia; an antispasmodic in fever. Having no tannic acid, it is frequently given with chalybeates and therefore can be prescribed with salts of iron; as an aromatic bitter stomachic it acts in the same way as calumba. In small doses Quassia increases the appetite. In large doses it acts as an irritant and will cause vomiting; It’s action probably lessens putrefaction in the stomach, and prevents the formation of acid substances during digestion. Cups made of the wood and filled with liquid will in a few hours become thoroughly impregnated and this drink makes a powerful tonic. The infusion for killing flies should be sweetened with sugar. Is also used as an enema for the expulsion of thread worms.