95» 
QUASSIA EXCELSA. 
Quassia Tree. 
For Class, Order, Nat. Ord. and Gjen. Char. 
see preceding Article. 
Spec. Char. Flowers liermaphrodite. Leaves pinnate, ter- 
minating in an odd one. Flowers in racemes. 
This species of Quassia is a native of the Caribbean Islands^ 
Surinam, and Jamaica, flowering in October and November. It i& 
a handsome tall tree, rising sometimes to the height of one hundred 
feet ; the trunk is straight and tapering, covered with smooth grey 
coloured bark; the leaves are pinnate, consisting of from five to 
eight pairs of pinnae, with a terminal one ; the leaflets are oblong 
and pointed, with reddish nerves ; the young leaves are covered 
with a fine brownish coloured down ; the flowers are produced i» 
clusters from the lower part of the last year's shoot ; they are small,, 
of a yellowish green colour ; the fruit is a small round black drupe, 
the size of a pea, and is ripe in December ; it is not bitter. The 
wood is brought to this country in billets, about the thickness of a 
man's arm ; it is very light and whitish, but becomes yellow by expo- 
sure to the atmosphere. 
Sensible and Chemical Properties. Quassia wood has 
no sensible odour, but its taste is intensely bitter. The watery 
infusion, decoction, and alcoholic tincture, are all equally bitter; 
they are of a yellowish colour, and are not altered by chalybeates, 
tartarized antimony, nor gelatin. The infusion is rendered muddy 
by nitrate of silver, a soft flaky yellow precipitate being formed ; 
acetate of lead occasions a copious white precipitate. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Quassia is considered 
tonic,* and may be given in all cases where bitters are proper. It 
has been found efficacious in intermittents and bilious fevers, in 
stomachic complaints, chlorosis, leucorrhcea, cachexy, diarrhoea, and 
* We are told by Dr. Duncan, that it evidently possesses some narcotic power, from 
its being used to poison flies ; (Edinburgh New Dispensatory) it certainly destroys 
Ihem, bat whether from its narcotic or bitter principle, is doubtful. — Ed, 
