DlCTYOGENS.] 



SMILACEiE. 



215 



Order LXIX. SMILACEiE.— Sarsaparillas. 



Smilacese, Ed. prior, cclvi. (1836). 



DiA.Gmsis.—Dicti/or/em with bisexual or polygamous hexapetaloideous flowers, several 



consolidated carpels, and axile placenta. 



CXLVII. 



Fig. CXLV 



Herbaceous plants or under-shinibs, with a ten- 

 dency to climb, and sometimes having fleshy tubers. 

 Stems scarcely woody. Leaves reticulated. Flowers 

 ^ or ? ^ ^ . Calyx and corolla both ahke, free, 

 G-pai-ted. Stamens 6, inserted into the perianth 

 near the base ; seldom hypogjTious. Ovary 3-celled, 

 the cells 1- or many-seeded ; style usually trifid ; 

 stigmas 3 ; ovules orthotropal. Fruit a roundish 

 berry. Albumen between fleshy and cartilaginous ; 

 embryo very small, usually distant from the hilum. 



From what has been already said in a previous 

 page, it is ob\aous that the Order of Sarsaparillas, as 

 I understand it, is very different from that of other botanists. Its nearest affinities are 

 with Lilies on the one hand, from which its reticulated leaves and quasi-exogenous 

 rhizomes distinguish it, and on the other with Parids, whose tripetaloideous flowers 

 afford a clear mark of distinction. 



The species are fomid in small quantities in most parts of the world, especially in the 

 tempei'ate and tropical parts of Asia and America. 



The diuretic demulcent powers of Sarsaparilla are well known. This dinig is the 

 produce of many species of Smilax ; as S. Pm-hampuy, a Peruvian species highly 

 extolled by Ruiz ; Smilax medica, which furnishes the Sarsaparilla of Vera Ciniz ; 

 S. siphUitica, which, according to Dr. Pereu'a, yields the Lisbon or Brazilian sort ; and 

 S. officinaUs, which the same acute pharmacologist suspects to be the Jamaica Sarsapa- 

 rilla, the best in the Enghsli market. Dr. Hancock mamtains that the only Sarsapaiulla 

 to be reUed upon for medical use, is that of the Rio Negro. Martins says (Flora Bras) 

 that S. papjTacea (officinaUs, Popp.) yields Brazilian or Lisbon Sarsaparilla, and that 

 many others are of medical value. It also appears that a considerable quantity of Smilax 

 glycyphylla, of excellent quality, has been imported from New Holland ; the leaves of 



Fig. CXLV I. — Smilax glycyphylla; 1. a male flower seen from above; 2. a female flower ; 3. a 

 transverse section of an ovary ; 4. a seed ; 5. a section of a seed, showing the embryo. 

 Fig. CXLVII.— 1. Flower of Smilax brasiliensis ; 2. perpendicular section of its ovary. 



