Quassia
Parts Usually Used
Wood, bark
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
The quassia tree grows from 50 to 100 feet high; it has smooth, gray bark and alternate, odd-pinnate leaves with oblong, pointed leaflets. Its small flowers are yellowish or greenish, its fruit is a small rupe about the size of a pea.
Where Found
A native of tropical America and the West Indies. A small tree native of Surinam and Guiana being introduced to the West Indies.
Medicinal Properties
Anthelmintic, febrifuge, stomachic, bitter tonic
Legends, Myths and Stories
Quassia is a common component of insecticides. A pure bitter with no sensible odor, Quassia cups were once very popular, and obtainable in drug stores. They were a sort of wooden cup or goblet, make of Quassia wood, for the purpose of drinking out of, to obtain the properties of the wood, which is so bitter, and yields its properties so readily to water, that if water is allowed to remain a few minutes in the cup, it will become quite bitter.
What is most singular, this bitter principle seems almost inexhaustible. Quassia chips are used to discourage thumb sucking among children. The decoction is applied to the thumb or finger usually sucked. Unlike Capsicum, which is sometimes used in preparations to discourage thumb sucking, tea of quassia chips will not burn the eyes when the child happens to come in such contact.
Quassia chips, an intense bitter, is used in aperitifs and sometimes as a substitute for hops in making beer. In Europe it is used in tonic wines. The generic name Quassia is derived from a man named Quassi of Surinam, who employed the wood with uncommon success as a secret remedy in the malignant endemic fevers which frequently prevails in Surinam. He sold the secret to Daniel Rolander, a Swede, who in 1756 took specimens of the wood to Stockholm, and shortly afterwards it became highly extolled throughout Europe, and it has been prescribed by numerous eminent doctors as an excellent stomachic tonic.
The whole plant; root, wood, and bark, is intensely bitter. Quassia is used in hair lotions. An old-fashioned plant spray to drive off plant lice was made with a strong decoction of Quassia mixed with liquid soap. A strong infusion sweetened and placed in a saucer is used to kill flies. This is harmless to house pets. This is a sure mealybug killer. The bitter taste is a preventive.
Uses
Historically, herbalists administered an infusion of quassia wood for fever, rheumatism, and dyspepsia. Traditional practitioners used it internally to target roundworms and administered it as an enema for pinworms. Folk tradition also held that the tea could reduce the appetite for alcohol. Additionally, water allowed to stand in cups carved from quassia wood was consumed as a bitter stomach tonic, and infusions were applied externally as a scalp rinse for dandruff.
How Sold
Tincture or powder
Bibliography
, Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
copyright 1974. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023