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bearberry, buckthorn, cascara, cascara buckthorn, cascara sagrada, false buckthorn

Habit Shrubs or trees, 1–12 m.
Stems

red to brown, gray, or green, glabrous or densely hairy.

Leaves

deciduous or semideciduous, alternate;

petiole 6–23 mm;

blade usually pale green abaxially, green to bluish or greenish gray adaxially, not glaucous or glaucous when fresh, elliptic to oblong or oblong-obovate, (3.5–)5–15 cm, herbaceous or distinctly coriaceous, base rounded to subcordate, obtuse, or cuneate, margins entire, irregularly toothed, or serrulate, apex obtuse or truncate, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely to densely hairy, or adaxial velvety;

secondary veins 9–11 pairs.

Inflorescences

umbels, pedunculate, 10–25-flowered.

Pedicels

5–15 mm.

Drupes

black, globose to depressed-globose, 5–10 mm;

stones 3.

Stigmas

2–3-lobed.

Frangula purshiana

Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaf blades distinctly coriaceous, glaucous adaxially when fresh, surfaces papillate.
subsp. ultramafica
1. Leaf blades herbaceous, not glaucous adaxially when fresh, surfaces not papillate.
→ 2
2. Leaf blade bases usually rounded to subcordate.
subsp. purshiana
2. Leaf blade bases usually cuneate.
subsp. anonifolia
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 57.
Parent taxa Rhamnaceae > Frangula
Sibling taxa
F. alnus, F. betulifolia, F. californica, F. caroliniana, F. obovata, F. rubra
Subordinate taxa
F. purshiana subsp. anonifolia, F. purshiana subsp. purshiana, F. purshiana subsp. ultramafica
Synonyms Rhamnus purshiana
Name authority (de Candolle) A. Gray ex J. G. Cooper: Trans. Amer. Med. Assoc. 10: 228. (1857)
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