Quassia amara L.

അമാർഗോ

Family : SIMAROUBACEAE

Synonym :

Quassia amara var. paniculata Engl.

Common Names : Quassia, Amargo, Bitter Ash, Bitterwood

Flowering Period : January-November

Distribution : Native of Tropical America

Habitat : Grown in gardens

Uses : People use Quassia for stomach and intestinal problems, diabetes, lice, skin conditions etc.

Key Characters :

A small, multi-stemmed and slow growing tree with a disorderly growth twiggy limbs. It is a shrub or rarely a small tree, reaching a height up to 6 metres. The pinnate with 3-5 leaflets, deeply veined, polished alternated dark green leaves are 15–25 cm long and distinctive for their broadly winged axis and reddish veins. Leaf rachis are winged. Terminal red-branched racemes of panicles, 10–30 cm long, produces narrow, vivid crimson flowers, 2.5-3.5 cm long, that decorate the tips of each little limb. The flower comprises 5 lanceolate petals, which remain mostly closed together forming a sharpening cylinder. The flowers are produced in a panicle 15–25 cm long, each flower 2.5-3.5 cm long, bright red on the outside, and white inside. They are generally open for two days during the flowering period and each inflorescence presents on to four open flowers at once. The flowers are fragile and sometimes fall from the rachis at the slightest touch. The fruits, five small elliptic, fleshy, purple black drupes, 0.8-1.5 cm long, replace the flower and turn red as they mature. Every fruit contains one small seedling.