SOME HEALING PLANTS 119 



small greenish-white flowers. The fruit is black 

 and globular, and contains two or three seeds similar 

 to the coffee bean. A wash made by steeping leaves 

 and twigs is a preventive for poison-oak and also a 

 cure. If the poison be severe, it is wise to take a 

 dose of the tea internally at the same time one is 

 making the external application. The virtues of 

 this plant were well known to the Indians, who 

 pointed them out to the Spanish padres. These 

 found it so efficacious that they bestowed on it the 

 name it still bears in commerce, Cascara sagrada, 

 or sacred bark. Rhamnus is the ancient Greek name 

 for the genus. Another species, also a native shrub, 

 is Rhamnus purshiana, named for a Russian botan- 

 ist. The genus is considered one of the most valua- 

 ble laxatives known in the medicinal world to-day, 

 and each year tons of the bark and twigs are ex- 

 ported from the State to the pharmaceutical labora- 

 tories of the East. 



Two other California plants form with Rhamnus 

 the three most important additions to the world's 

 pharmacopoeia during the last century. These are 

 the Yerba Santa, or "Holy Plant," and the Grin- 

 delia, both known to the Indians from time imme- 

 morial. Both are effective in colds, or in any trou- 

 ble of the pulmonary system, and both may save 

 the camper much anxiety. Yerba Santa grows on 

 dry hillsides in western California, and reaches 



