cassia Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of various trees or shrubs of the genus Cassia having pinnately compound leaves and usually yellow flowers followed by long seedpods
  2. noun some genus Cassia species often classified as members of the genus Senna or genus Chamaecrista
    genus Cassia.
  3. noun Chinese tree with aromatic bark; yields a less desirable cinnamon than Ceylon cinnamon
    Cinnamomum cassia; cassia-bark tree.

WordNet

Cas"sia noun
Etymology
L. cassia and casia, Gr. and of Semitic origin; cf. Heb. qetsiah, fr. qatsa' to cut off, to peel off.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) 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. ✍ 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.

Webster 1913