01.
A Bit of Botany
a little bit of botanical information on quassia
description
Quassia amara is a shrub or rarely a small tree of the Simaroubaceae family.
Quassia grows to a height of 3 meters tall—on more rare occasions it grows up to 8 meters.
The leaves have winged rachis, are compound and alternate,
15–25 cm long, and pinnate with 3-5 leaflets.
The plant's striking flowers have a bright red exterior and a white interior, and they are produced in a panicle 15–25 cm long.
The quassia fruit is a small drupe ranging in length from
1-1.5 cm.
common names & nomenclature
Carolus Linnaeus—Swedish botanist of the 18th century—gave this plant its genus name.
Linneaus named it after the first
botanist to describe the plant: the Surinamese freedman Graman Quassi.
Also known as:
amargo, bitter-ash, bitter-wood, jamaica quassia, surinan quassia