XTT SARSAPARILLA 243 



The British Pharmacopoeia contains the following descrip- 

 tion of the drug : — 



Jamaica Sarsaparilla.— The dried root of Sniilax 

 officinalis. Native of Central America, imported from 

 Jamaica. 



Characters. — Roots not thicker than a goose-quill, Official de- 

 generally many feet in length, reddish-brown, covered with the drug. 

 rootlets, and folded in bundles about eighteen inches long, 

 scentless ; taste mucilaginous, feebly bitter, faintly acid. 



