Quassia Cup
notes: label: Description
content: Quassia (1692-1787) was an obeah (healer) from the Guinea region of West Africa who was enslaved and taken to Surinam, a Dutch sugar colony on the Caribbean coast of South America. While investigating local plants with medicinal properties, Quassia learned of a tree that when, when made into an infusion, promoted appetite and assisted digestion. Daniel Rolander, a Swedish botanist who visited Surinam in the 1750s, met Quassia and acquired some samples of this tree. These samples eventually reached Carl Linnaeus, in Stockholm, and that noted botanist named the tree Quassia. Nineteenth century medical texts touted the benefits of water drunk from quassia cups.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: Jamaica
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of William H. Schieffelin & Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.049942
label: catalog number
content: 049942
label: accession number
content: 10696
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Quassia Cup
label: Object Name
content: quassia cup
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood, quassia (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 2 1/2 in; 12.7 cm x 6.35 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 2.5 cm; 12.7 cm x in