cassia

 
Pronunciation: /ˈkasɪə/

noun

  • 1a tree, shrub, or herbaceous plant of the pea family, native to warm climates. Cassias yield a variety of products, including fodder, timber, and medicinal drugs (such as senna), and many are cultivated as ornamentals.
    • Genus Cassia, family Leguminosae: many species
  • 2 (also cassia bark) [mass noun] the aromatic bark of an East Asian tree, yielding an inferior kind of cinnamon which is sometimes used to adulterate true cinnamon.
    • Cinnamomum aromaticum, family Lauraceae

Origin:

Old English (in cassia (sense 2)), from Latin, probably denoting the wild cinnamon, via Greek from Hebrew qĕṣī‘āh