Common Name: QUASSIA or SIMAROUBA FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, tree; generally dioecious. Stem: occasionally thorny; bark often bitter. Leaf: generally alternate, simple, entire, or pinnately compound, leaflets subentire to toothed near base. Inflorescence: panicle, raceme, or flowers 1. Flower: unisexual, inconspicuous; sepals generally 4--5, generally fused at base, generally erect; petals generally 5, free, generally spreading; stamens generally 10, generally on disk, filaments often with a basal scale; pistils 1--8, ovaries superior, 1--2-chambered, 1-ovuled [if pistil 1, chambers generally 2--5, 1-ovuled], styles free or partly fused. Fruit: winged achenes or drupes [berry, nut], in clusters [not].
Genera In Family: 22 genera, 100 species: tropics, warm temperate; some cultivated. Note: Bark, leaves used traditionally to treat malaria, other ailments.
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Elizabeth McClintock
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Leaf: linear to lanceolate on young stems, scale-like on mature. Flower: calyx lobes 4--8; petals 4--8; stamens 8--24; ovaries 4--8, adherent near middle, style bases fused, tips spreading. Fruit: dry, 4--8, spreading.
Etymology: (René R.L. Castel, French botanist, poet, editor, opera librettist, 1759--1832) Note: Holacantha still recognized by some (e.g., Clayton et al. 2007).
Unabridged Reference: Moran & Felger 1968 Trans San Diego Soc Nat Hist 15:31--40