Definition of "cassia" [cas•sia]

• Any of various chiefly tropical or subtropical trees, shrubs, or herbs of the genus Cassia in the pea family, having pinnately compound leaves, usually yellow flowers, and long, flat or cylindrical pods. (noun)
• A tropical Asian evergreen tree (Cinnamomum cassia) having aromatic bark used as a substitute for cinnamon. (noun)
• The bark of this tree. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The other is the Southeast Asian or Chinese cinnamon, often called cassia, which is typically thick and hard, forming a double spiral, darker in color and much stronger in flavor, bitter and somewhat harsh and burning, as in the American “red-hot” candy."
• "I wonder if anyone else knows whether the cassia was a flavour particular to Bristol?"
• "Nigardu_, an ancient Sanskrit Catalogue of Plants, the true cinnamon is spoken of as _Sinhalam_, a word which signifies "belonging to Ceylon" to distinguish it from cassia, which is found in Hindustan."