Cascara sagrada was discovered by an Eclectic physician, Dr. J. H. Bundy, its virtues being first extolled in “New Preparations,” Detroit, 1877. Parke, Davis & Co. introduced the fluid extract to the medical profession and gave it great conspicuity. It may be confidently said that to their efforts is due the wide-spread celebrity of this drug and its preparations.
Description.—The bark is the part used in medicine, and has long been known in domestic practice among western people as a mild cathartic. Cascara sagrada is officially described as “in quills or curved pieces, about 3 to 10 Cm. (1⅕ to 4 inches) long, and about 2 Mm. (1/12 inch) thick; outer surface brownish-gray and whitish; the young bark having numerous, rather broad, pale-colored warts; inner surface yellowish to light brownish, becoming dark-brown by age; smooth or finely striate; fracture short, yellowish, in the inner layer of thick bark somewhat fibrous; inodorous; taste bitter”—(U. S. P.).