ABSTRACT
Quassi3 was the name of a Negro slave, a medicine man of Surinam, who acquired a great reputation in the treatment of fevers with a secret bitterplant remedy. His secret was made public by the Swedes Daniel Rolander and Carl G. Dahlberg in 1756 (Felter and Lloyd 1898) and his name was honored by Linné (Linaeus) in naming the plant Quassia amara in 1762.4 The term ‘amara’ refers to the bitterness of the plant and its extracts.
