Also 8 quassi, quassy, quasi, (quaciæ). [Named by Linnæus, about 1761, after a Surinam negro, Graman (= grand man) Quassi or Quacy (= QUASHEE), who discovered the virtues of the root in 1730.
Quassi communicated his discovery to C. G. Dahlberg, by whom it was made known to Linnæus: see C. M. Blom in C. Linnæi Amœnitates Academicæ, VI. (1764), 420, and Stedman, Surinam, II. xxix.]
1. The wood, bark or root of a South American tree (Quassia amara), found esp. in Surinam, and of some other trees, esp. the bitter ash (Picræna excelsa) of Jamaica, and the bitter damson (Simaruba amara) of the West Indies and S. America. b. The bitter decoction prepared from this, used for medicinal and other purposes.
The quassia now in use is chiefly that obtained from the bitter ash, commonly sold in the form of chips.
1765. [cf. 3].
1770. Gentl. Mag., XL. 227. The quasi was administered in decoction.
1803. Davy, in Phil. Trans., XCIII. 268. The infusions of quassia … are scarcely affected by muriate of tin.
1830. Herschel, Stud. Nat. Phil., 86. An intense and pure bitter like quassia.
1878. T. Bryant, Pract. Surg. (1879), II. 59. An enema of some bitter vegetable infusion, such as quassia.
2. Any of the trees yielding quassia, esp. the Quassia amara of Surinam.
1766. [cf. 3].
1797. Encycl. Brit., XV. 753/1. Dr. Wright found this tree to be a species of quassia.
1859. All Year Round, No. 32. 127. Why not … cultivate … quassia, which is such a handsome shrub?
1876. Harley, Mat. Med. (ed. 6), 673. Quassia bears some resemblance to the common ash, attains a height of 50, 60, or even 100 feet.
3. attrib., as quassia-bark, -chips, -root, -tree, -wood; quassia cup, a drinking cup made of quassia wood, a ‘bitter cup.’
1765. Ann. Reg., 114. Linnæus … has lately recommended … a new medicine, called quassi-wood. Ibid. (1766), 76. They write from Pensacola that the true Quassi medicinal tree has lately been discovered in the western parts of that province.
1767. Harley, in Phil. Trans., LVIII. 81. At last I tryed the Quassi Root.
1834. T. J. Graham, Dom. Med. (ed. 6), 70. Quassia wood comes from Jamaica and the Caribbean islands.
1860. Piesse, Lab. Chem. Wonders, 171. The purest bitter principle is yielded by the quassia tree.
