bitterwood

Noun

• 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

• 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

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  paradise tree , Simarouba glauca , Jamaica quassia , Picrasma excelsa , Picrasma excelsum , quassia , Quassia amara