FAMILY HERBAL. SOI 



The Sarsaparilla Plant. Saj^sa^ai^Ula. 



to 



A PLANT of the climbing kind^ native of the 

 warmer countries. The stalks run to ten or twelve 

 feet in length, but are weak, and support them- 

 selves among the bushes : tliej are whitish, ani^u- 

 lar, and striated, and are full of small prickles. 

 The leaves are an inch long, or more, and above 

 half an inch broad, of an oval figure, of a deep 

 green on the upper side, and white underneath, 

 firm in their texture, and \cvy glossy. The flow* 

 ers are little and yellowish. The berries are black, 

 round, and of the bigness of a small pea, . The 

 root is very large and slender* 



The root is used. Our druggists keep it : they 

 split it in two. It is brown on the outside, and 

 white within ; and its taste is insipid. It is sup^ 

 posed to have great virtues, but they are not per- 

 fectly established. They have been at times dis- 

 puted, and at times supported. Given in decoc- 

 tion, it promotes sweat and urine. It has been 

 esteemed good against the scurvy, and famous ia 

 the cure of the venereal disease. It is, in general, 

 accounted a sweetener of the blood- 



The Sassafras Tree. Sassafras. 



A BEAUTIFUL tree, native of America, and 

 to be met with in some of our gardens. It grows 

 twenty five or thirty feet high. The trunk is 

 naked till it comes near the top. The branches 

 grow^ near together, and spread irregularly'. The 

 leaves are of two kinds : those on the older parts 

 of the twigs are oblong and pointed, somewhat 

 like bay leaves ; and those on the tops of the 

 branched are larger, broader, and divided into 



three parts^ like the leaves of maple, or they carry 



