Quassia
Template:Short description Template:Automatic taxobox
Quassia (Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en) 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.
TaxonomyEdit
The genus was first published in Carl Linnaeus's book Species Plantarum ed. 2. on page 553 in 1762.<ref name="powo"/>
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.<ref>Christophe Wiart Template:Google books</ref>
In 1962, Dutch botanist Hans Peter Nooteboom (1934–2022) had taken a very broad view of the genus Quassia Template:Au and included therein various genera including, Hannoa Template:Au, Odyendyea Template:Au, Pierreodendron Template:Au, Samadera Template:Au, Simaba Template:Au and Simarouba Template:Au .<ref name="noteboom">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Then in 2007, DNA sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses was carried out on members of the Simaroubaceae family. It found that genus Samadera was a sister to Clade V and that genus Quassia was also a sister to Clade V but they had separate lineages. This suggested the splitting up of genera Quassia again, with all Nooteboom's synonyms listed above being resurrected as independent genera. This includes Samadera indica Template:Au as the accepted name for Quassia indica. The ornamental Quassia amara Template:Au, which is occasionally planted in Singapore, remains in genus Quassia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
DistributionEdit
Members of the genus are found in the Tropics throughout the world.<ref name="powo"/> Countries and regions where species are native include: Andaman Islands, Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, northern and northeastern 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.
SpeciesEdit
The only accepted species of the genus, by Plants of the World Online as of November 2023 is: Quassia amara Template:Small<ref name="powo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Although World Flora Online accepts 16 species;<ref name="WorldFloraOnline">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Div col
- Quassia africana Template:Small
- Quassia amara Template:Small
- Quassia arnhemensis Template:Small
- Quassia baileyana Template:Small
- Quassia bidwillii Template:Small
- Quassia borneensis Template:Small
- Quassia cedron Template:Au
- Quassia crustacea Template:Small
- Quassia harmandiana Template:Small
- Quassia indica Template:Small
- Quassia maiana Template:Au
- Quassia pohliana Template:Small
- Quassia sanguinea Template:Small
- Quassia schweinfurthii Template:Small
- Quassia undulata Template:Small
- Quassia versicolor Template:Small
There are also taxa that have not been assigned a formal status: Template:Div col
- Quassia sp. 'Moonee Creek', unplaced – Australia <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Quassia sp. 'Mount Nardi', unplaced – Australia
The genus has been verified by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service (Germplasm Resources Information Network) and they only list 6 species; Quassia amara, Quassia cedron (syn. Simaba cedron, Quassia excelsa (syn. Picrasma excelsa), Quassia indica (syn. Samadera indica Template:Au), Quassia simarouba (syn. Simarouba amara Template:Au) and Quassia undulata.<ref name="Grin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
UsesEdit
It is the source of the quassinoids such as quassin and neo-quassin.<ref name="pmid20036657">Template:Cite journal</ref> Simalikalactone D is a quassinoid that is extracted from Quassia africana for antiviral properties.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>