noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of several tropic trees, of the genus Quassia, having scarlet flowers.
2. 2
   handsome South American shrub or small tree having bright scarlet flowers and yielding a valuable fine-grained yellowish wood; yields the bitter drug quassia from its wood and bark wordnet
3. 3
   The bitter substance quassin extracted from its bark.
4. 4
   a bitter compound used as an insecticide and tonic and vermifuge; extracted from the wood and bark of trees of the genera Quassia and Picrasma wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

bitterwoodquassia amara

Example

More examples

"Some plants in the quassia family are considered invasive."

Etymology

From the genus name translingual Quassia, named after Surinamese physician and botanist Graman Quassi.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.