Cascara sagrada is a botanical obtained from the bark of a North American shrub-like tree known as the Californian Buckthorn. The common name is Spanish for “sacred bark,” no doubt a tribute to the herb’s usefulness attributed by Spanish conquistadors that occupied the Pacific Northwest in the 1600s. The Chinook natives of the region, who called it “chittem bark,” harvested Cascara sagrada for its emodin content long before it was commercially prepared and sold by the pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis in the late 19th century.