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Rhamnus purshiana (Cascara
Buckthorn, Cascara, Bearberry, and in the
Chinook Jargon,
Chittam or Chitticum; syn. Frangula
purshiana) is a species of buckthorn native to
western North America from
southern British Columbia
south to central California, and
inland to western Montana.
It is the largest species of buckthorn,
occasionally growing up to 15 m tall, though more
commonly a large shrub or small
tree 5-10 m
tall, with a trunk 20-50 cm in diameter. The
bark is
brownish to silver-grey with light splotching. The leaves are
deciduous, alternate, clustered near the ends of twigs; they are
oval, 5-15 cm long and 2-5 cm broad with a 0.6-2 cm petiole, dark shiny
green on top, fuzzy and paler green below. The flowers are tiny, 4-5 mm
diameter, with five greenish yellow petals; the flowering season is
brief, disappearing by early summer. The fruit is a
berry
6-10 mm diameter, bright red at first, quickly maturing deep purple or
black, and containing three seeds.
It grows in moist, acidic soils in the shady side
of clearings or in the marginal forest understory, near the edges of
mixed
deciduous-coniferous forests.
It typically grows as a second-generation tree after alders have colonized a
barren plot of land.
Uses
The dried, aged bark of this tree has been used
continuously for at least 1,000 years by both native and immigrant
Americans as a laxative
natural medicine,
commercially called "Cascara Sagrada", but old timers call it "chitticum
bark".
Cascara Sagrada means "sacred bark" in
Spanish. The
much more pertinent name chitticum means "shit come" in
Chinook Jargon;
chittam comes from the Chinook Jargon
phrase chittam stick = "laxative tree" which is
similarly from the English word
"shit".
Long used as a laxative by
Native American groups of the northwest Pacific
coast, chitticum bark or Cascara Sagrada was accepted in
medical practice in the United States in 1877, and by 1890 had replaced
the berries of the European Buckthorn (R. catharticus) as a
commonly used laxative. It is still
the principal ingredient in many commercial, over-the-counter
laxatives in North American
pharmacies.
The bark is harvested mostly from wild trees;
over-harvesting in the middle 1900s eliminated mature
trees near many settled areas. Once stripped from the tree, the bark is
aged for about 1 year to make its effect milder. Fresh cut, dried bark
causes
vomiting and violent diarrhea.
