Handsome South American shrub or small tree having bright scarlet flowers and yielding a valuable fine-grained yellowish wood

• Medium to large tree of tropical North and South America having odd-pinnate leaves and long panicles of small pale yellow flowers followed by scarlet fruits
• West Indian tree yielding the drug Jamaica quassia
• Yields the bitter drug quassia from its wood and bark
• The paradise tree

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. quassia

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. handsome South American shrub or small tree having bright scarlet flowers and yielding a valuable fine-grained yellowish wood; yields the bitter drug quassia from its wood and bark [syn: quassia , Quassia amara ] West Indian tree yielding the drug Jamaica ...

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bitterwood \Bit"ter*wood`\, n. A West Indian tree ( Picr[ae]na excelsa ) from the wood of which the bitter drug Jamaica quassia is obtained.