CASCARASAGRADA

Cascara sagrada is the dried bark collected from the small- to medium-sized wild deciduous trees. The plant has loosely pinnate-veined leaves and greenish dioecious flowers in axillary clusters. The commercial bark is flattened or transversely curved, longitudinally ridged with a brownish to red-brown color. It has gray or white lichen patches and occasional moss attachments. The plant grows along the Pacific coast of the United States (Washington, California, Oregon) and also in Idaho, Arizona

It is obtained by steam distillation of the dried bark of the evergreen shrub of the euphorbiaceae (Croton cascarilla) or (Croton eluteria). The yield is 1% to 3%. Mainly produced in the Bahamas, West India, the United States and Cuba.

Flavoring agent; as an addition to smoking tobacco for flavoring.