''Quassia'' ( or ) is a plant
genus in the
family Simaroubaceae. Its size is disputed; some
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
s treat it as consisting of only one
species, ''
Quassia amara'' from
tropical South America, while others treat it in a wide circumscription as a
pantropical genus containing up to 40 species of
trees and
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
s. The genus was named after a former slave from
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
,
Graman Quassi in the eighteenth century. He discovered the medicinal properties of the bark of ''
Quassia amara''.
Distribution
Members of the genus are found in the Tropics throughout the world.
Countries and regions where species are native include: Andaman Islands, Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, North and Northeast Brazil, Burkina, Cabinda, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Islands, Honduras, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Laos, Leeward Islands, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaya, Mali, Central, Southeast and Southwest Mexico, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Territory, Panamá, Philippines, Queensland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Uganda, Venezuela, Vietnam, Windward Islands, Zambia, and Zaïre.
The plant is naturalised in the following places: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Jawa, and Puerto Rico.
List of accepted species
Accepted species of the genus, as of February 2021, are:
*''
Quassia africana''
*''
Quassia amara''
*''
Quassia arnhemensis''
*''
Quassia baileyana''
*''
Quassia bidwillii''
*''
Quassia borneensis''
*''
Quassia crustacea''
*''
Quassia gabonensis''
*''
Quassia harmandiana
''Quassia harmandiana'' is a freshwater mangrove shrub or small tree in the Simaroubaceae family. It is found in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The wood provides firewood. Certain fish eat the poisonous fruit
Description
This species grows as a s ...
''
*''
Quassia indica''
*''
Quassia pohliana''
*''
Quassia sanguinea
''Quassia sanguinea'' is a species of plant in the Simaroubaceae family. It is found in Cameroon and Nigeria. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threate ...
''
*''
Quassia schweinfurthii''
*''
Quassia undulata''
*''
Quassia versicolor
''Quassia'' ( or ) is a plant genus in the family Simaroubaceae. Its size is disputed; some botanists treat it as consisting of only one species, '' Quassia amara'' from tropical South America, while others treat it in a wide circumscription as ...
''
There are also taxa that have not been assigned a formal status:
*
''Quassia'' sp. 'Moonee Creek', unplaced – Australia
*
''Quassia'' sp. 'Mount Nardi', unplaced – Australia
Uses
It is the source of the
quassinoid
Quassinoids are degraded triterpene lactones (similar to limonoids) of the Simaroubaceae plant family grouped into C-18, C-19, C-20, C-22 and C-25 types. The prototypical member of the group, quassin, was first described in the 19th century fr ...
s
quassin and
neo-quassin.
References
External links
*
*
Sapindales genera
Plant toxin insecticides
{{Sapindales-stub