RADIX SARSAPARILL.^. 



705 



4 



Doubt and confusion hang over the other species of SniUax which 

 have been quoted as the sources of sarsaparilla. S. syphilitica II B K 

 with flowers m a raceme of umbels, discovered on the Cassiquiare 

 m New Granada, and well figured by Berg and Schmidt from an 

 authentic specimen, appears from Poppig's statements to yield some of 

 the sarsaparilla shipped at Para. But Kunth states that Poppig's plant 

 gathered near Ega, is not that of Humboldt and Bonpland. Spruce, who 

 collected S. syphilitica (herb. No. 3779) in descending the Rio Negro in 

 1854, has informed us that the Indians in various places in the 

 Amazon valley always strenuously asserted it to be a species worthless 

 hv^' Salsa." ^ 



^ S.papyracea, described by Poiret^in 1804, and figured by Martins,'' 

 IS but very imperfectly known. It has foliage resembling that of 

 & officinalisy but, judging from Spruce's specimens (No. 1871) collected 

 on the Rio Negro, a multangular stem. It is probably the source o{ 

 the Pard Sarsaparilla. 



8. cordafo-ovata Rich, is a doubtful plant, perhaps identical with 

 8. SchomhurgJdana Knth., a Panama species. Pbppig alleges that its 

 root is mixed with that of the plant w^hich he calls >S'. syphilitica. 



S. Purhampuy Ruiz, a Peruvian species, said to afford a valuable sort 

 of sarsaparilla, is practically unknown^ and is not admitted by Kunth.* 



No new information on the several above mentioned species of 

 Smilax is found in the review of this genus by A. and C. De CandoIIe,' 

 where 105 American species are enumerated 



History — Monardes^ has recorded thai sarsaparilla was first intro- 

 duced to Seville about the year le536 or 1545, from New Spain ; and a 

 better variety soon afterwards from Honduras. He further narrates 

 that a drug of excellent quality was subsequently imported from the 

 province of Quito, that it was collected in the neighbourhood of Guaya- 

 quil, and was of a dark hue, and lai-ger and thicker than that of Hon- 

 duras. 



Redro de Ciezo de Leon, in his Chronicle of Peru,' which contains the 

 observations made by him in South America between 1532 and 1550, 

 gives a particular account of the saz-saparilla which grows in the province 

 of Guayaquil and the adjacent island of Puna, and recommends the 

 sudorific treatment of syphilis, exactly as pursued at the present time. 



These statements are confirmed by the testimony of other writers, 

 ^iius, Joao Rodriguez de Castello Brauco, commonly known as Amatus 

 l-usitanus, a Portuguese physician of Jewish origin, who practised 

 chiefly in Italy, has left a work recording his medical experiences and 

 narrating eases of successful treatment.^ One of the latter concerns a 

 patient suffering from acute rheumatism, for whom he finally prescribed 



*^' ioU4. 468. 

 iFlor. Br^, j. (1842-71) tab. 1. 

 it must not be supposed that all species 

 drua Tu ^^^ capable of furnisbing the 

 Hpa 7 ^^^ ^^'"^ niany, even Soutli Ame- 



W' /T- ^'^^ ^^'^ ^- ^^P^^'"^ ^^ Europe. 

 r^n^ c^' ^^^n/ roots, which wouhl never 

 pass for xnedicinal sarsapariUa. 



G_igg^''''f/''«P''««i?/mHeroi7frn?^r!M», i.(l87S) 



' Pages 18 and 88 of the work quoted in 



the Appendix. _ . , . _ 



^ Parte prmera de la CJiromca dd Peru, 



SeviUa, 1553, folio Ixix. -a translation for 

 the llaklayt Society in 1864, by Markham, 

 who observes that Cieza de Leon never 

 himself Wsited Guayaquil. 



1 Cnratioiitm medkinallum ccnUrno' qua- 



tn<yi% Basilece, 1556. 365. 



:2 Y 



