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Indian Quassiawood

Picrasma ailanthoides (pik-rass-ma kwash-ee-OY-deez)

Family: Simaroubaceae Non-native Canopy (>40 ft)

Indian Quassiawood is a deciduous tree or shrub native to southern Asia in the Quassia family. It grows 30 to 50 feet tall with a spread of 20 to 25 feet. In spring, 3-6 inch cymes of small green to yellow-green flowers appear that are followed by clusters of red to black berry-like drupes in fall. Fall leaf color is a bright yellow to orange to red. This tree prefers moist well-drained soils in sun to partial shade and is adaptable to both sandy and clay loams. Use as a small shade tree or as a specimen for the attractive foliage, drupes and fall color.

Source: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox ↗ NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, 44 attributes.

How it fits the guild

Guild layer 1 - Canopy (>40 ft)
See companions & conflicts ↓

Companions & Conflicts

Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.

No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.

Also noted by NC State

Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.

Fills a similar niche Staphylea japonica Syringa pubescens subsp. pubescens Vitis riparia

Full plant profile

Growing Conditions
Plant type
Shrub; Tree
Life cycle
Woody
USDA zones
6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b
Light
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
Clay; Loam (Silt); Sand
Soil drainage
Good Drainage
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 30 ft. 0 in. - 50 ft. 0 in. | Width: 20 ft. 0 in. - 25 ft. 0 in.
Canopy layer
1 - Canopy (>40 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Rounded
Foliage
Deciduous
Leaf color
Gold/Yellow; Orange
Leaf type
Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf value
Showy
Leaf size
> 6 inches wide
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
Compound leaves with 7-15 leaflets, margins irregularly toothed. 1-4 inches long by .5-1.5 inches wide. Orange/Red/yellow fall color
Fall color
Orange; Red/Burgundy
Flower color
Green
Flower form
Cyme
Flower size
> 6 inches
Flower detail
Yellow-green flowers with 4-5 petals in 3-6 inch long cymes in May
Bloom time
Spring
Fruit color
Red/Burgundy
Fruit type
Drupe
Fruit detail
Red pea shaped fruit
Bark detail
Smooth dark grey-brown bark
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Non-native
Origin
China, Japan, Korea
Food & Medicine
Harvest time
Fall
Fruit type
Drupe

Edibility

buds used to make tea

Uses (ethnobotany)

An extracted from the bark and used as a substitute for hops in beer making. Bark or wood used to make an insecticide.

Landscape Use
Landscape location
Lawn
Landscape theme
Asian Garden
Design feature
Shade Tree; Specimen
Garden tags
#deciduous

Planted at Hunnicutt

Nobody’s planted this one yet.