SMILACE^E. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 359. 



SMILAX. 



Dioecious. Perianth 6-parted, nearly equal, spreading. ^ . 

 Stamens 6 ; anthers erect. J . Perianth permanent. Ovary 

 3-celled, the cells 1-seeded; style very short; stigmas 3. Berry 

 1-3-seeded. Seeds roundish ; albumen cartilaginous-; embryo 

 remote from the hilum. RBr. 



*#* According to Dr. Hancock, to whom we are so much indebted 

 for valuable information concerning the medicinal plants of Guayana, 

 there is but one species of Smilax that yields genuine Sarsaparilla. 

 This grows chiefly on the elevated lands of the Rio Imiquen, at Untu- 

 rana and Caraburi ; but it is constantly adulterated with inferior sorts. 

 Dr. Hancock says that the Sarsa of the Rio Negro, which comes by 

 way of Angostura or Para is the best, and this is certainly not Will- 

 denow's S. siphilitica : the true species has no axillary spines. It ap- 

 pears that of six or eight species of Smilax growing in the woods of 

 Guayana, but one is found to manifest to the taste any of the sensible 

 properties of the genuine medicinal Sarsa ; the root being insipid and 

 inert ; that one Dr. Hancock describes thus : 



" The stem is round, armed with short curved spines. The leaves 

 are oblong, pointed, distant, smooth and glossy. The root is a tuber 

 with numerous divergent fibres of 2 or 3 lines in thickness and several 

 feet in length." 



Dr. Hancock further remarks, that " the Sarsaparilla of the shops 

 is for the most part nearly inert, either from age or from being procured 

 from several nonmedicinal species. It should be taken from recent 

 importations in the roll, and not be that which is kept slit up in* the 

 shops, which is very often quite useless. Good Sarsaparilla has a 

 peculiar nauseous acrimony when chewed, and this is almost the only 

 criterion we have for judging of its medicinal activity." The properties 

 of Sarsaparilla as a medicine are emetic, diaphoretic, narcotic, causing 

 nausea and prostration of strength, and affecting the tongue and fauces 

 more or less with a nauseous acrimony. The active principles are 

 driven off by heat. See a memoir in the Med. bot trans. 1829, p. 61. 



1269. S. aspera Linn. sp. pi. 1458. DC. fl. fr. iii. 178. 

 Willd. sp. pi. iv. 773. ( Clus. hist. i. 112.) South of Europe, 

 Barbary. 



There is a general opinion, adopted I know not how, that Indian 

 Sarsaparilla is produced by this plant; and upon that supposition Mr. 

 Garden has named a new principle he has found in it, Smilasperic acid. 

 (Med. Gaz. xx. 800.) I cannot however discover any good authority 

 for the rhizoma of Smilax aspera possessing active properties, and 

 I presume, as it is not an Indian plant, there must be some mistake 

 in the matter. Indian Sarsaparilla is produced by Hemidesmus indicus 

 an asclepiadaceous plant, which see, No. 1153. 

 597 QQ 3 



