Cascara Sagrada bark - Latin Name: (Rhamnus purshiana )

Herbal Anecdote: The modern clinical applications for cascara originate from its traditional use in North American aboriginal medicine. Numerous tribes throughout the Northwest have traditionally used cascara bark as a laxative drug in various dosage forms, including aqueous decoction and/or infusion, cold macerate as well as chewing the bark directly. For example, the Flathead, a Salish people of northwest Montana, and the Kutenai people of Montana, Idaho and British Columbia both prepare a cathartic infusion of the bark as a purgative. The Sanpoil, Shuswap, Skagit, and Yurok peoples prepare the bark as a decoction for laxative action.

Traditional Uses: laxative, purgative