Quassia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids II
Ordo: Sapindales

Familia: Simaroubaceae
Genus: Quassia
Species: Q. amara
Name

Quassia L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2. 1: 553. (1762)

Type species: Quassia amara L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2. 1: 553. (1762)

References

Linnaeus, C. 1762. Species Plantarum, ed. 2, Tomus I: 553. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2022. Quassia in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Feb. 6. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2022. Quassia. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2022. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Feb. 6. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Quassia. Published online. Accessed: Feb. 6 2021.
Pirani, J.R., Majure, L.C. & Devecchi, M.F. 2021. An updated account of Simaroubaceae with emphasis on American taxa. Brazilian Journal of Botany 1-21. DOI: 10.1007/s40415-021-00731-x Paywall ResearchGate Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2021. Quassia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 6 Feb. 2021.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Quassia in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 08-Apr-12.

Quassia (/ˈkwɒʃə/ or /ˈkwɒʃiə/) 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 a pantropical genus containing up to 40 species of trees and shrubs. The genus was named after a former slave from Suriname, 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.[1] 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:[1]

Quassia africana (Baill.) Baill.
Quassia amara L.
Quassia arnhemensis Craven & Dunlop
Quassia baileyana (Oliv.) Noot.
Quassia bidwillii (Benth. & Hook.f.) Noot.
Quassia borneensis Noot.
Quassia crustacea (Engl.) Noot.
Quassia gabonensis Pierre
Quassia harmandiana (Pierre ex Laness.) Noot.
Quassia indica (Gaertn.) Noot.
Quassia pohliana (Boas) Noot.
Quassia sanguinea Cheek & Jongkind
Quassia schweinfurthii (Oliv.) Noot.
Quassia undulata (Guill. & Perr.) D.Dietr.
Quassia versicolor (A.St.-Hil.) Spreng.

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 quassinoids quassin and neo-quassin.[2]
References

"Quassia L." Plants of the POWO)World Online (. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
Mishra K, Chakraborty D, Pal A, Dey N (April 2010). "Plasmodium falciparum: in vitro interaction of quassin and neo-quassin with artesunate, a hemisuccinate derivative of artemisinin". Exp. Parasitol. 124 (4): 421–7. doi:10.1016/j.exppara.2009.12.007. PMID 20036657.