It is native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia, from the central British Isles south to Morocco, and east to Kyrgyzstan.

[4] It was introduced to North America as an ornamental shrub in the early 19th century or perhaps before, and is now naturalized in the northern half of the continent, and is classified as an invasive plant in several US states[5][6][7] and in Ontario, Canada.

[8] Rhamnus cathartica is a deciduous, dioecious shrub or small tree growing up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall, with grey-brown bark and often thorny branches.

In 1994, R. cathartica was implicated in the outbreak of an idiopathic neurological disease in horses,[clarification needed] although no causative agent was officially identified.

[27] Soils enriched by extra nitrogen from decayed buckthorn leaves and additional earthworm activity have a negative impact on North American forest ecosystems: "Invasive earthworms, which need rich litter, break [buckthorn leaves] down rapidly, destroying beneficial fungi and exposing bare soils in the process.

These soils provide ideal conditions for buckthorn germination and seedling growth but many native trees and shrubs need the beneficial fungi and will not reproduce without it.

[32] Rhamnus cathartica is difficult to control in its invasive range, because it sprouts vigorously and repeatedly from the root collar following cutting, girdling or burning.

[33] Herbicide application to newly cut stumps is a popular and effective control method, but seeds stay viable in the soil for several years before sprouting, so repeated treatments and long-term monitoring of infested areas is required.

It is also easier to spot infestations at this time of the year, as the leaves of R. catharticus stay out an average of 58 days longer than native plants.

[36] It also appeared to be routinely used as a purgative in some monastic settings, as was clear from the latrine pits of the Benedictine Abbey at St Albans excavated in the 1920s, where great numbers of buckthorn seeds were found mixed up with the fragments of cloth used by the monks as lavatory paper[37] The wood is hard and dense, and the bark yields a dye.