SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 



stem and seed pod, the latter usually constricted 

 between the seeds. 



Among a considerable portion of our population 

 the Indians have enjoyed from very early times a 

 reputation for special knowledge in the remedial 

 properties of wild plants; but doubtless they have 

 been credited much in excess of their deserts. 

 Nevertheless, there are some of the aboriginal reme- 

 dies worthy of all respect. Prominent among them 

 are two or three plants of the Pacific Coast. One 

 of these seems first to have been brought to light 

 through the contact of the Franciscan missionaries 

 of the eighteenth century with the Indians of South- 

 ern California, and is still quite generally known by 

 its Spanish name, Cascara sagrada, that is " sacred 

 bark." It is a shrub or small tree of the genus 

 Rhamnus, with somewhat elliptic, prominently 

 veined leaves, abundant clusters of tiny yellowish 

 flowers in spring succeeded in the autumn by a con- 

 spicuous crop of inedible berries turning yellowish- 

 crimson and finally black. The plant is considered 

 by some botanists as of one variable species (Rham- 

 nus Calif ornica, Esch.), and by others as of two the 

 name R. Purshiana, DC., being applied to the arbo- 

 real form, which is common through the northern 

 coast regions as far as British Columbia and east- 



195 



