SARSAPARILLA 99 



in the pine barrens and grows in sandy and grassy woods through- 

 out the eastern United States. 



Description. Rhizome horizontal or slightly oblique, somewhat 

 contorted, laterally compressed above, from 2 to 4 cm. in length, 

 5 to 12 mm. in diameter; externally grayish-brown, upper portion 

 with a circular stem scar at one end, from 3 to 7 mm. in diameter and 

 with numerous leaf bases, the sides and lower portion with numerous 

 pale yellow roots which are more or less flexuose and provided with 

 short branches; the roots are often stripped of the cortical layer, 

 exposing the reddish-brown or purplish endodermal layer of the stele 

 and giving them a wiry appearance; the surface of the rhizome cov- 

 ered with glandular hairs consisting of a unicellular or bi-cellular 

 head and a short stalk; fracture short; internally light brown, cortex 

 1 to 2 mm. thick, central cylinder with numerous circular, twisted 

 and branching fibrovascular bundles. Odor slight; taste sweetish, 

 somewhat bitter. 



Inner Structure. See Fig. 38. 



Constituents. A bitter principle soluble in water or alcohol. 



Adulterant. The drug is not infrequently mixed with helonias or 

 entirely substituted by it. (U. S. Dept. Agric.) 



Literature. Holm, Merck's Report, 1910, p. 33. 



Sarsaparilla. The dried root of various species of Snrlax 

 (Fam. Liliacese), perennial climbers indigenous from Mexico to 

 Brazil. There are three principal commercial varieties: (1) Hon- 

 duras sarsaparilla yielded by Smilax officinalis, growing in Guate- 

 mala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and exported from Honduras and 

 Belize; (2) Mexican sarsaparilla, yielded by Smilax medica, growing 

 in Mexico, and exported from Vera Cruz and Tampico, and (3) 

 Jamaica or Central American sarsaparilla, derived from Smilax 

 ornata, growing in Colombia (South America), Costa Rica and 

 Nicaragua, and shipped to Jamaica, 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. 



Description. Honduras Sarsaparilla. In bundles (Fig. 39) 

 about 1 M. in length and from 8 to 15 cm. in diameter, consisting 

 of 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 



