Bitterwood

The evergreen bitterwood tree from the bitter ash family grows up to 6 m high, has brown bark, bright red flowers and 1.5 cm large, initially green, ripened black drupes and yellowish white wood. Surinam bitterwood comes from Guyana, Colombia, Panama and Argentina, while Jamaica bitterwood comes from the Lesser Antilles, the Caribbean islands and northern Venezuela. The effect of the constituents quassinoids against malaria is of importance; bitterwood teas are used in French Guiana in empirical medicine for the treatment of malaria (Bertani S et al. 2005).

HMPC: not processed

ESCOP: not processed

Commission E: not processed

Empirical medicine: stimulation of appetite and digestion. Malaria therapyin French Guiana.

Studies: In gel form for seborrheic dermatitis and rosacea.

Cosmetic industry: Quassia amara wood extract (INCI)

Digestive, insecticidal and antiviral, but also has anti-ulcerogenic effects.

1. Blaschek W (2015) Wichtl-Teedrogens and phytopharmaceuticals. A handbook for practice. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Munich. S 531-532
2. Bertani S et al. (2005) Evaluation of French Guiana traditional antimalarial remedies. J Ethnopharmacol;98(1-2):45-54. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2004.12.020. PMID: 15849870.
3. https://www.kraeuterabc.de/kraeuter/bitterholz/
4. García-Barrantes PM et al. (2011) Anti-ulcerogenic properties of Quassia amara L. (Simaroubaceae) standardized extracts in rodent models. J Ethnopharmacol 12;134(3):904-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.01.052. Epub 2011 Feb 4. PMID: 21296139.
5. Diehl C et al. (2013) Efficacy of topical 4% Quassia amara gel in facial seborrheic dermatitis:a randomized, double-blind, comparative study. J Drugs Dermatol 12:312-315.
6. Ferrari A et al.(2011) Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerance of a topical gel with 4% quassia extract in the treatment of rosacea. J Clin Pharmacol 52:84-88.