Quassia, a tree cultivated in the West Indies and the parts adjacent. It has terminal clusters of large, red flowers, and unequally pinnate leaves. It comes to this country in logs or billets, and is retained as chips or raspings. It is given as an extract, an infusion, or a tincture. An infusion of it is used to poison flies.

Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.

Quas"si*a (?), n. [NL. From the name of a negro, Quassy, or Quash, who prescribed this article as a specific.]

The wood of several tropical American trees of the order Simarubeae, as Quassia amara, Picraena excelsa, and Simaruba amara. It is intensely bitter, and is used in medicine and sometimes as a substitute for hops in making beer.

© Webster 1913.