QUASSIA AMARA or bitterwood, quassia from Surinam, quassia from Guyana
The South American quassia is part of the Simaroubaceae family.
This plant family is mainly present in tropical regions with the notable exception of Ailanthus altissima or « false Japanese varnish » adapted to temperate regions and considered an invasive tree in Europe and many other regions (America, Australia, New Zealand).
Quassia amara is sometimes confused with other trees (with bitter wood) of the same family: Simarouba amara present in Guyana (or marupa, or white cedar or bitter cedar) and Picrasma excelsa or quassia of Jamaica.
Quassia amara is native to tropical and equatorial South America but has been introduced to other tropical countries.
It is a small, fairly decorative tree with alternate and compound foliage with a winged rachis, with flowers that are red on the outside and white on the inside, the fruits are small drupes of about 1 cm.
In French Guiana it is called couachi or kwachi, a traditional medicinal plant named in honor of Kwasi, an
African slave from Guinea and transported to neighboring Suriname, a recognized traditional practitioner, a freed slave and also an honored but sometimes controversial figure in Suriname.
QUASSIA AMARA and QUASSIN, the most bitter plant substance.
Quassia wood contains many pharmacologically interesting substances, quassinoids and alkaloids.
Quassin (diterpene lactone, quassinoid) is extremely bitter, 50 times more than quinine, which is already a good reference.
It is considered that the taste buds on the tongue can detect the bitterness of quassin at a concentration of 0.06 ppm, or 6 g of quassin in 100,000 liters of water for example.
According to current European legislation, this natural substance can be used in food products as a flavouring agent at concentrations ranging from 5 ppm to 50 ppm (in bitter drinks).
At these low concentrations quassin is not considered toxic but at high concentrations it is an endocrine disruptor.
QUASSIA AMARA MEDICINAL AND USEFUL PLANT
All parts of Quassia contain bitter substances (especially the leaves) because they are carried by the sap of the tree.
It is in young wood (bark and sapwood) that the concentration is the most interesting it seems, on average 0.6 g of quassin per kg of quassia wood.
Quassinoids have different chemical structures and therefore varied common names for example: quassin, picrasmine, isoquassin, bruceantine, simarolide, glaucarubinone, bruceine, simalikalactone …).
The majority of quassinoids are very bitter, some have been studied:
- for their ANTICANCER properties (example bruceantin, glaucarubinone)
- or AGAINST MALARIA including plasmodium falciparum resistant to nivaquine (simalikalactone D and especially E).
A mixture of these compounds (including quassine) can be used as a PLANT INSECTICIDE, particularly active on aphids (ornamental plants) or some other insect pests (particularly on fruits trees).
Some examples of traditional uses of quassine or quassia wood (fragmented):
- Lack of appetite,
- difficulty digesting fatty substances,
- constipation due to hepatobiliary insufficiency, dyspepsy,
- “lack of tone”.
All of the following preparations can be sweetened or unsweetened.
AQUEOUS MACERATION:
5 g of quassia wood chips in 1 liter of water for 12 hours (in the refrigerator), 1/2 glass to 1 glass per day.
WOOD INFUSION:
5 to 10 g of quassia wood in a liter of very hot water, infuse for 1/2 hour, 1/2 cup to 1 cup per day.
LEAF INFUSION:
A small handful of leaves in a liter of very hot water, infuse 30 minutes, 1/2 cup to 1 cup once or twice a day.
This is one of the traditional ways to treat or alleviate a malaria attack in many regions of South America and especially in French Guiana where there are no « quinine trees » (cinchona).
QUASSIA WINE:
30g of chopped wood in 1 liter of white wine, keep cool for 1 month, filter. 1/2 glass 1 to 2 times a day.
QUASSIA MACERATION:
30 g of cassia wood in 1/4 liter of ethyl alcohol at 40-50°, wait 3 weeks before filtering; 5 to 20 drops of this preparation in a little sugared water once or twice a day.
QUASSIA WOOD VINEGAR
Elimination of « head lice ». Quassia wood vinegar dissolves the chitin of lice and probably also acts as an insecticide, it can be combined with a vegetable oil such as carapa oil (andiroba).
This application must be repeated on the hair and scalp every 4-5 days for at least 3 weeks but a faster treatment can also be done (every day for a week).
TREATMENT OF SEBORRHEIC DERMATITIS
A cream containing 4% cassia wood extract relieves the symptoms of this chronic dermatosis as much as antifungal creams (ketoconazole or ciclopirox olamine).
WHERE TO FIND QUASSIA WOOD?
Outside of South America and some of the Antilles, it is difficult to find the quassia tree, but quassia wood can be found in shavings or powder form at some herbalists or natural product retailers in Europe, North America and on the Internet.
Copyright : Dr Jean-Michel Hurtel