Rhamnus purshiana
Encyclopedia
Rhamnus 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 flower
s 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 seed
s.
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 alder
s have colonized a barren plot of land.
natural medicine, commercially called "Cascara Sagrada" and also known as "chitticum bark". The laxative action is due to the Cascara glycoside
s (cascarosides A,B,C & D).
Cascara Sagrada means "sacred bark" in Spanish
. It was long used as a laxative
by Native American groups
of the northwest Pacific coast
, and its much more pertinent regional name chitticum means "shit come" in Chinook Jargon
; chittam comes from the Chinook Jargon
phrase chittam stick = "laxative
tree" which is similar to the English
word "shit".
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
.
) as a commonly used laxative
. It was the principal ingredient in many commercial, over-the-counter laxative
s in North America
n pharmacies
until 9 May 2002, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule banning the use of aloe and Cascara Sagrada as laxative ingredients in over-the-counter drug products. Use of Cascara Sagrada has been associated with abdominal pain and diarrhea; it is also potentially carcinogenic. Cascara Sagrada was found to be similar in activity to the carcinogen aloe emodin
, one of the constituents of Cascara Sagrada.
In July 2003, the FDA responded to a citizen's petition filed against the May 2002 final ruling banning the use of cascara sagrada in OTC laxatives by the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and International Aloe Science Council (IASC) (June 2002, CP25) and subsequent data submissions that occurred in October 2002 (SUP14) and December 2002 (SUP15)). In this letter the FDA stated that the American Herbal Products Association Botanical Safety Handbook (1997), the one cited to the FDA in CP25, contained only general information similar to information they already had in 1975. Upon further evaluation of all submitted information it found inadequate support for the petition that cascara sagrada should be generally recognized as safe and effective for OTC use as a laxative.
In September 2003 the FDA also responded to a petition (CP27) that was filed in August 2002 in which the FDA stated that "the agency does not find that the benefits of using cascara sagrada laxative ingredients outweigh the risks" and that the data contained in petition CP27 "do not rule out the possibility that cascara sagrada preparations are genotoxic and/or carcinogenic."
Buckthorn
The Buckthorns are a genus of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall , in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae...
native to western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
from southern British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
south to central California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and inland to western Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
It is the largest species of buckthorn, occasionally growing up to 15 m tall, though more commonly a large shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
or small tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
5–10 m tall, with a trunk 20–50 cm in diameter. The bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is brownish to silver-grey with light splotching. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
, 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 flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are tiny, 4–5 mm diameter, with five greenish yellow petals; the flowering season is brief, disappearing by early summer. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a berry
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
6–10 mm diameter, bright red at first, quickly maturing deep purple or black, and containing three seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s.
It grows in moist, acidic soils in the shady side of clearings or in the marginal forest understory, near the edges of mixed deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
-coniferous forests. It typically grows as a second-generation tree after alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
s have colonized a barren plot of land.
Uses
The dried, aged bark of this tree has been used continually for at least 1,000 years by both native and immigrant Americans as a laxativeLaxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
natural medicine, commercially called "Cascara Sagrada" and also known as "chitticum bark". The laxative action is due to the Cascara glycoside
Glycoside
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to a non-carbohydrate moiety, usually a small organic molecule. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. These can be activated by enzyme...
s (cascarosides A,B,C & D).
Cascara Sagrada means "sacred bark" in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. It was long used as a laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
by Native American groups
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of the northwest Pacific coast
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
, and its much more pertinent regional name chitticum means "shit come" in Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...
; chittam comes from the Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...
phrase chittam stick = "laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
tree" which is similar to the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
word "shit".
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
Vomiting
Vomiting is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose...
and violent diarrhea
Diarrhea
Diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...
.
Regulation due to potential carcinogenicity
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. catharticusRhamnus cathartica
Rhamnus cathartica , is a species in the family Rhamnaceae, native to Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia, from the central British Isles south to Morocco, and east to Kyrgyzstan...
) as a commonly used laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
. It was the principal ingredient in many commercial, over-the-counter laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
s in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n pharmacies
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
until 9 May 2002, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule banning the use of aloe and Cascara Sagrada as laxative ingredients in over-the-counter drug products. Use of Cascara Sagrada has been associated with abdominal pain and diarrhea; it is also potentially carcinogenic. Cascara Sagrada was found to be similar in activity to the carcinogen aloe emodin
Aloe emodin
Aloe emodin is a carcinogenic anthraquinone present in aloe latex, an exudate from the aloe plant. It has a strong stimulant-laxative action....
, one of the constituents of Cascara Sagrada.
In July 2003, the FDA responded to a citizen's petition filed against the May 2002 final ruling banning the use of cascara sagrada in OTC laxatives by the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and International Aloe Science Council (IASC) (June 2002, CP25) and subsequent data submissions that occurred in October 2002 (SUP14) and December 2002 (SUP15)). In this letter the FDA stated that the American Herbal Products Association Botanical Safety Handbook (1997), the one cited to the FDA in CP25, contained only general information similar to information they already had in 1975. Upon further evaluation of all submitted information it found inadequate support for the petition that cascara sagrada should be generally recognized as safe and effective for OTC use as a laxative.
In September 2003 the FDA also responded to a petition (CP27) that was filed in August 2002 in which the FDA stated that "the agency does not find that the benefits of using cascara sagrada laxative ingredients outweigh the risks" and that the data contained in petition CP27 "do not rule out the possibility that cascara sagrada preparations are genotoxic and/or carcinogenic."