AmargoQuassia amara

Did you know?

• Both of its names mean the same thing: amargo is Spanish for "bitter," and amara comes from the Latin amarus, "bitter"^{[8, 9]}.

• Its showy scarlet flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds^{[4, 10]}.

• Brewers have used the wood in place of hops to make beer bitter^[4].

• Amargo is on the US list of natural flavorings, and Japanese researchers found that a natural bittering agent sold in Japan is most likely made from it^{[5, 6]}.

• The wood and bark have long been used as a natural insecticide^{[2, 4]}.

• The man the genus is named for was known as Graman Quassi, and Graman means "grand man"^[3].

Origins and history

Amargo is a shrub or small tree, usually no more than about 16 feet (5 m) tall^{[1, 4]}. Its leaflets grow in pairs along a winged leaf stalk, and its large scarlet flowers hang in long, one-sided clusters^{[4, 10]}. It is native to the American tropics, from Mexico to northern Brazil, and has been planted as an ornamental across the tropics, from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia and West Africa^{[1, 4]}.

The genus takes its name from Graman Quassi, an enslaved man in 18th-century Suriname who discovered the value of the bitter wood in 1730^{[2, 3]}. He kept his knowledge to himself for years, until in 1756 he made it known to Daniel Rolander and C. G. Dahlberg^[10]. Carl Linnaeus named the genus Quassia in his honor, and the name passed into English as quassia^{[1, 2, 3]}.

Amargo's bitterness has found many uses, from brewing and food flavoring to natural insect control^{[2, 4, 5, 6]}. It is also known as Surinam quassia; the name quassia is shared with a different tree, Jamaica quassia (Picrasma excelsa), which is now listed as endangered^{[5, 7]}. Both woods were once sold as quassia, and 19th-century American pharmacists made a bitter infusion by soaking the rasped wood in cold water for about 12 hours^[10].

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of amargo in people are still few^[7], but its traditional use as a bitter is rich and consistent^{[2, 4, 7]}.

• A bitter tonic for appetite

  Across its range, amargo wood has traditionally been taken as a bitter tonic to wake up the appetite. It supports a healthy appetite.*^{[2, 4, 7]}

• Healthy digestion

  The same bitter drink has long been used to stimulate digestion. Amargo supports healthy digestion.*^{[4, 7]}

• A natural bitter

  The wood is used as a natural bitter flavoring for foods and drinks.^{[5, 6, 7]}

Plant compounds

Amargo's bitterness comes from naturally occurring plant compounds called quassinoids, named after the plant itself. The two main ones are quassin and neoquassin^{[4, 5]}. The wood also contains smaller amounts of alkaloids, including canthin-6-one and β-carboline alkaloids^[5].