RADIX SARSAPARILL.E. 707 



no flowers or fruit. At my request the Indian operated on the finest 

 plant first. It had five stems from the crown, and numerous roots 

 about 9 feet long, radiating horizontally on all sides. The thin covering 

 of earth was first scraped away from the roots by hand, aided by a 

 pointed stick ; and had the salsa been the only plant occupying the 

 ground, the task would have been easy. But the roots of the salsa 

 were often difficult to trace among those of bamboo and other plants, 

 which had to be cut through with a knive whenever they came in the 

 way. The roots being at length all laid bare — (in this case it was the 

 work of half a day, but with large plants it sometimes takes up a 

 whole day or even more) — they were cut off" near the crown, a few 

 slender ones being allowed to remain, to aid the plant in renewing its 

 growth. The stems also were shortened down to near the ground, and 

 a little earth and dead leaves heaped over the crown, which would soon 

 shoot out new stems 



"The yield of this plant, of four years' growth, was 16 lb.— half a 

 Portuguese arroba — of roots ; but a well-grown plant will afibrd at the 

 first cutting from one to two arrohas. In a couple of years, a plant 

 may be cut again, but the yield will be much smaller and the roots 

 more slender and less starchy." 



General Description— The medicinal species of Smilax have a 

 thick, short, knotty rhizome, called by the druggists chump, from 

 which grow in a horizontal direction long fleshy roots, from about the 

 thickness of a quill to that of the little finger. These roots are mostly 

 simple, forked only towards their extremities, beset with thread-like 

 branching rootlets of nearly uniform size, which however arc not 

 emitted to any great extent from the more slender part of the root near 

 the stock. When fresh the root is plump/ but as found m commerce 

 m the dried state it is more or less furrowed longitudmally, at least in 

 the vicinity of the rhizome. When examined with a good lens both 

 I'oots and rootlets may be seen in some specimens to be clothed witti 



short velvety or shaggy hairs. u - 4-h 



^ The presence or absence in greater or less abundance ot starch m tne 

 bark of the root is regarded as an important criterion m estunaUng tne 

 good quality of sarsaparilla. In England the non-amylaceous or non- 

 mealy roots are preferred, they alone being suitable for the i^^^nutacture 

 of the dark fluid-extract that is valued by the public. ^^^^^.V/*^" 

 tinent, and especially in Italy, sarsaparilla, which when cut exlnmts a 



^-mtax is a character which has no botanical signmcaa^w ^-^ ^n'^™- 

 indeed, to vary in the same species. If one exammes J^^^^^^ f/^ 

 saparilla by shaving ofi" a little of the bark, one finds a ^^^f^^^^J^'^g 

 of roots to be non-amylaceous in their entire length; but othei scan b^ 

 picked out which, though non -amylaceous for ?«^^ ^^'^^^^t irthe^^^ 

 rhizome, acquire a stal-chy bark, which is ^^^^'^'^^f^^^^^^^ 

 ^.iddle and lower portions ;-and there are still f.^^^^^'li^^^ 

 'h^tly starchy even as they start from the parent rhizome, becoming 



^ °e the fresh root of the large plant of appearance and m stnicture ^s 

 ^'"'^ officinalis in the Eoyal Gardens, sarsapanlla. 



