Cascara

Appearance

Cascara is a large shrub or small tree 4.5–12 metres tall, with a trunk 20–50 centimetres in diameter. The buds have no scales, unique for the northwest region.

The thin bark is brownish to silver-gray with light splotching; the inner bark is smooth and yellowish. Cascara bark has an "intensely" bitter flavor that will remain in the mouth for hours, overpowering and even numbing the taste buds.

The leaves are simple, 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, shiny and green on top, and a dull, paler green below; they have tiny teeth on the margins, and 10–12 pairs of pinnate veins. The leaves turn yellow in autumn.

The flowers are tiny, 3–5 mm diameter, with five greenish yellow petals, forming a cup shape. The flowers bloom in umbel-shaped clusters, on the ends of distinctive peduncles that are attached to the leaf axils. The flowering season is brief, from early to mid- spring, disappearing by early summer. The fruit is a drupe 6–10 mm diameter, bright red at first, quickly maturing deep purple or black, and containing a yellow pulp, and two or three hard, smooth, olive-green or black seeds....hieroglyph snipped...

Distribution

Cascara is native from northern California to British Columbia and east to the Rocky Mountains in Montana. It is often found along streamsides in the mixed deciduous-coniferous forests of valleys, and in moist montane forests. Cascara is common in the understory of bigleaf maple forest, alongside red osier dogwood and red alder.