218 BOTANY OF THE VOYAGE OF H.il.S. HEEALD. 
in November, 1853, he placed in the hands of Mr. D. Hanbury, through whose kindness I was able to 
identify them, not only with SmiJax officinalis of H. B. et K., but also with the specimens previously col- 
lected on tlie Volcano of Chiriciui. Having now a thorough knowledge of the Smilax named 8. officinalis 
by Humboldt and his fellow-labourers, I began to examine the different species considered allied to it. The 
first one attracting my notice was Smilax papyracea of Duhamel. On this species, Mr. Eobert Bentlcy had, 
in April, 1853, published an able article in the ' Pharmaceutical Journal;' and applying to. that author for 
additional information, he, Uke a true man of science, most cheerfully granted my request, and willingly 
aUowed me to examine the specimens which served as materials for his article. A critical examination of 
them convinced me, what I had abeady anticipated from comparing Dentley's description with the speci- 
mens of S. officinalis in my possession, and Huhamel's diagnosis of S.^apyracea, that Smilacc papyracea and 
S. officinalis were identical. The second species arresting my attention was Smilax medica of Sehlechtendal 
and Chamisso. This species has been well described, and a tolerably good figure of it has been published, 
by Necs von Esenbock ; a close comparison of which with Smila^ papijracea and S. officinalis proved it to be 
identical with them ; so that the three names, S. officinalis, H. B. et K., S. papyracea, Duham., and S. medica, 
Cham, et Scblecht., are synonyms of one species,— a fact easily accounted for, when it is considered that the 
roots, stem, branches, and foliage, from which the chief cbaracters of these three supposed species had been . 
derived, are more variable than those who make species in their closets are apt to thmk. 
Having now shown what number of synonyms belong to the true S. officinalis, I proceed to give an 
account of the plant itself, in order to prevent botanists from making similar mistakes to those they have 
abeady committed. Smilax officinalis grows on the slopes of mountains, to an elevation of 5000 feet above 
the sea, and is confined, as far as we at present know, to the continent of South America, where it ranges 
between the 20th degree of noi-th and the 6th degree of south latitude, and the 110th and the 40th degrees 
of west longitude. Jamaica, whence so great a portion of Sarsaparilla used is annually obtained, does not , 
produce any itself, as has been well ascertained ; the article known by the name of " Jamaica Sarsaparilla" 
is merely imported into that island from the Spanish Main, and afterwards shipped for Europe and the 
United States of America. Kor are there any authentic data for believing that S. officinalis occurs in any 
other island of the "West Indies, although such a distribution would be by no means an unlikely one. 
The rhizome (chump) of the plant is cylindrical, and the roots (the Sarsaparilla of commerce), abound- 
ing, according to age and the place they grow in, more or less in starch, are as much as ten feet long, and 
geherally furnished with branched rootlets (beards). The plant itself is in every part glabrous, and ave- 
rages fifty feet in length. The stem is quadrangular, furrowed or striated, and on the edges clad with flat 
prickles, which are occasionally curved upwards. The branches are, like the stem, quadrangular, or often 
multangular, and either with or without prickles. The petiole, sheathing at the base, is furnished with two 
spirally twisted tendrils, which are often 10 inches long, and either with prickles or destitute of them. The 
leaves are extremely variable ; at times they are broadly cordate, almost trilobed, gradually tapering into 
an acumen ; at others they are ovate-oblong, and even lanceolate and rounded at the apex, but almost mu- 
cronate ; they are generally five-nerved, the two outermost nerves being mostly bifurcated ; all the nerves 
are prominent on the under surface of the leaves, acutely edged and often fornished with prickles ; the 
colour of the leaves is dark green, the under surface being a shade paler thaii the upper, but never glau- 
cous, like many other species oi Smilax ; the length of the leaves varies from 2 niches to 1 foot, and the 
breadth (at the base) from 1 to 6 inches ; in thickness they vary considerably, being either coriaceous or 
more or less paper-like, and they have, moreover, in the latter case, transparent lineolar dots. The pedun- 
cles are axillary and solitary, somewhat flattened, and they bear an umbel composed of about sixteen 
flowers. The flowers are still unknown. The berries arc round and red, and of the size of a small cherry, 
r 
or even smaller tlian that. Eacli I)erry contains from Wo to tlirec plano-convex seeds, of a liglit brown 
■ 
colour. 
Botanists, competent to judge of the true limits of species, are not likely to raise any objection to my 
