Cascarilla

The aromatic bark of this shrub from the southern Bahamas flavours famous bitter liqueurs, Campari among them.

A shrub or small tree of the spurge family, usually up to 6 m tall, with lance-shaped leaves covered underneath in silvery-brown scales. In spring it produces small, white, highly fragrant flowers. Its cracked, light brown bark gives off a warm, spicy scent when dried – it was once added to tobacco and used as a remedy for fever and indigestion, and today it is used to flavour bitter liqueurs and vermouths.

Significance in the country

The Bahamas is the world’s main source of cascarilla bark; harvesting it from wild shrubs has for generations been an important source of income for people on the sparsely populated southern islands.

Where it grows

In dry scrub on the southern islands, above all Acklins and Crooked Island, as well as Long Island and Exuma.

More: Wikipedia (en)