318 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Shorea Talura, Roxburgh. (8. laccifera, Heyne.) 



India, abounding in Mysore, where South European fruits prosper. 

 On this tree also the Lac insect lives. It furnishes a peculiar 

 dammar. 



Sison Amomum, Linne. 



Middle and South Europe. A herb of one or two years' duration. 

 It grows best on soil rich in lime. The seeds can be used for 

 condiment. 



Smilax medica, Chamisso and Schlechtendal. 



Mexico. This plant produces mainly the sarsaparilla root of that 

 country. 



Smilax officinalis, Humboldt. 



New Granada and other parts of Central America. This climbing 

 shrub produces at least a portion of the Columbian sarsaparilla. 



Smilax papyracea, Duhamel. 



Guiana to Brazil. The origin of the principal supply of Brazilian 

 sarsaparilla is ascribed to this species, although several others of 

 this genus, largely represented in Brazil, may yield the medicinal 

 root also. In warm humid gullies of the temperate zone these 

 plants would likely succeed in establishing themselves. Smilax 

 Australis (R. Br.) extends from the tropical coast parts of Aus- 

 tralia to East Gippsland. Neither this nor the East Australian 

 S. glycyphylla (Smith) nor the New Zealand Ripogonum scandens 

 (Forst.) has ever been subjected to accurate therapeutic tests, and 

 the same may be said of numerous other Smilaces scattered through 

 the warmer countries of the globe. The Italian sarsaparilla, which 

 is derived from the Mediterranean S. aspera (L.), has been intro- 

 duced into medicine. 



Smilax rotundifolia, Linne. 



Eastern States of North America and Canada. A prickly climber 

 with deciduous foliage. An immense local use is made of the roots 

 for the bowls of tobacco-pipes, clay pipes being there almost 

 unknown. It is estimated that nearly three millions of these 

 briar-root pipes are now made a year. The reed portion of these 

 pipes is generally prepared from Alnus serrulata (Meehan). 



Smyrnium Olusatrum, Linne. 



The Alisander. Middle and South Europe, North Africa, Western 

 Asia. A biennial herb, which, raw or boiled, can be utilised in the 

 manner of celery. The roots and the fruitlets serve medicinal 

 purposes. 



