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Noun: bitterwood
  1. 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
    - quassia, Quassia amara
     
  2. West Indian tree yielding the drug Jamaica quassia
    - Jamaica quassia, Picrasma excelsa, Picrasma excelsum
     
  3. 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
    - paradise tree, Simarouba glauca

Derived forms: bitterwoods

Type of: bitterwood tree

Part of: genus Picrasma, genus Quassia, genus Simarouba, Picrasma, Simarouba

Encyclopedia: Bitterwood