RADIX SARSAPARILLiE. 707 



no flowers or fruit. At my request the Indian operated on the finest 

 plant first. It had five stems fi-om the crown, and numerous roots 

 about 9 feet long, radiating horizontally on all sides. The thin covering 

 of earth was fii-st scraped away from the roots by hand, aided by a 

 pointed stick ; and had the salsa been the only plant occupying the 

 ground, the task would have been easy. But the roots of the salsa 

 were often diflicult to trace among those of bamboo and other plants, 

 which had to be cut through with a knive whenever they came in the 

 way. The roots being at length all laid bare — (in this case it was the 

 work of half a day, but with large plants it sometimes takes up a 

 whole day or even more) — they were cut ofi* near the crown, a few 

 slender ones being allowed t-o remain, to aid the plant in renewing its 

 growth. The stems also were shortened down to near the ground, and 

 a little earth and dead leaves heaped over the crown, which would soon 

 shoot out new stems 



" The yield of this plant, of four years' growth, was 16 lb. — half a 

 Portuguese arroba — of roots ; but a well-grown plant will afford at the 

 first cutting from one to two arrobas. In a couple of years, a plant 

 may be cut again, but the yield will be much smaller and the roots 

 more slender and less starchy." 



General Description — The medicinal species of Smilax have a 

 thick, short, knotty rhizome, called by the druggists chump, from 

 which grow in a horizontal direction long fleshy roots, from about the 

 thickness of a quill to that of the little finger. These roots are mostly 

 simple, forked only towards their extremities, beset with thread-like 

 branching rootlets of nearly uniform size, which however are not 

 emitted to any great extent from the more slender part of the root near 

 the stock. When fresh the root is plump,^ but as found in commerce 

 in the dried state it is more or less furrowed longitudinally, at least in 

 the vicinity of the rhizome. When examined with a good lens both 

 roots and rootlets may be seen in some specimens to be clothed with 

 short velvety or shaggy hairs. 



The presence or absence in greater or less abundance of starch in the 

 bark of the root is regarded as an important criterion in estimating the 

 good quality of sarsaparilla. In England the non-amylaceous or non- 

 mealy roots are preferred, they alone being suitable for the manufacture 

 of the dark fluid-extract that is valued by the public. On the Con- 

 tinent, and especially in Italy, sarsaparilla, which when cut exhibits a 

 thick bark, pure white within, is the esteemed kind. 



The more or less plentiful occurrence of starch in the roots of 

 Smilax is a character which has no botanical significance, and appears, 

 indeed, to vary in the same species. If one examines Jamaica sar- 

 saparilla by shaving off" a little of the bark, one finds a large majority 

 of roots to be non-amylaceous in their entire length ; but others can be 

 picked out which, though non-amylaceous for some distance firom the 

 rhizome, acquire a starchy bark, which is white internally in their 

 middle and lower portions ; — and there are still others which are 

 slightly starchy even as they start from the parent rhizome, becoming 



* We have been kindly permitted to exa- Kew ; and have found that it agrees in 

 mine the fresh root of the large plant of appearance and in stmcture with Jamaica 

 Smilax officinalis in the Royal Gardens, sarsaparilla. 



