A variant or archaic term for cassine or cassena, a North American holly plant traditionally used for making a caffeinated ceremonial drink.
From Creek or Timucua languages of the American Southeast. The word was recorded by early European explorers documenting Native American plants and rituals, entering English through ethnographic accounts.
Cassan refers to a plant the Timucua people used in sacred ceremonies centuries before Europeans knew caffeine existed—when Spanish explorers finally tested the 'black drink,' they realized Native Americans had independently discovered one of the world's few natural stimulants.
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