Category:Cassia

Cas"sia, n. Etym: [L. cassia and casia, Gr. qetsi\'beh, fr. qatsa' to cut off, to peel off.]

1. (Bot.)

Defn: A genus of leguminous plants (herbs, shrubs, or trees) of many species, most of which have purgative qualities. The leaves of several species furnish the senna used in medicine.

2. The bark of several species of Cinnamommum grown in China, etc.; Chinese cinnamon. It is imported as cassia, but commonly sold as cinnamon, from which it differs more or less in strength and flavor, and the amount of outer bark attached.

Note: The medicinal "cassia" (Cassia pulp) is the laxative pulp of the pods of a leguminous tree (Cassia fistula or Pudding-pipe tree), native in the East Indies but naturalized in various tropical countries. Cassia bark, the bark of Cinnamomum Cassia, etc. The coarser kinds are called Cassia lignea, and are often used to adulterate true cinnamon. -- Cassia buds, the dried flower buds of several species of cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia, atc..). -- Cassia oil, oil extracted from cassia bark and cassia buds; -- called also oil of cinnamon.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Cassia - (1.) Hebrew kiddah', i.e., "split." One of the principal spices of the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:24), and an article of commerce (Ezekiel 27:19). It is the inner bark of a tree resembling the cinnamon (q.v.), the Cinnamomum cassia of botanists, and was probably imported from India. (2.) Hebrew pl. ketzi'oth (Psalms 45:8). Mentioned in connection with myrrh and aloes as being used to scent garments. It was probably prepared from the peeled bark, as the Hebrew word suggests, of some kind of cinnamon.