CRUDE DRUGS. 



447 



exported from Vera Cruz and Tampico, and (4) Jamaica or 

 Central American sarsaparilla, derived from Smilax ornata, grow- 

 ing in the United States of Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, 

 and shipped to Jamaica, from whence it is exported chiefly to 

 London. There is also a native Jamaica sarsaparilla which is 

 obtained from plants cultivated 'in Jamaica. The Honduras and 

 Mexican varieties are chiefly used in this country, although Para 

 sarsaparilla has been employed to a certain extent for years. 



Description. Honduras Sarsaparilla. In bundles about 

 I M. in length and from 8 to 15 cm. in diameter, consisting of 



yCl^ -^^^ . .v'^.wr^'^ 



^ ^ 



Fig. 192. Transverse section of American sarsaparilla (rhizome oi Aralia nudicaulis) 

 showing cork (k), hypodermis (h), rosette aggregates (ca) of calcium oxalate (75 n in diam- 

 eter), parenchyma (p) containing angular starch grains (3 to 10 /u. in diameter), oil secretion 

 reservoirs (o), sieve (s), medullary rays (m), cambium (c), tracheae (t), wood fibers (w). 



the long, folded roots, and rhizomes, bound together by roots of 

 the same plant or stems of some other plant, the ends of the 

 bundles rarely being trimmed at the present time : roots 

 about 2 M. long and uniformly about 2 to 6 mm. in diameter ; 

 externally dark or reddish-brown, longitudinally furrowed, 

 minutely hairy and having slender rootlets, the furrows usually 

 free from soil ; fracture fibrous ; internally consisting of a white 

 pith, a light-yellow, porous, central cylinder and a grayish-white or 

 dark-brown cortex, the latter being lighter and more starchy 

 near the growing end, and darker (more resinous) near the union 

 with the rhizome; odor slight; taste slightly acrid (Fig. 193). 



