ORRIS 383 



Florentine orris root is usually nearly white in colour, carefully 

 peeled, plump, and very fragrant. 



Veronese orris root closely resembles the Florentine, but generally 

 has a yellower colour, is rather less carefully peeled, often more wrinkled 

 and more elongated ; most of the pieces are pierced with a small hole 

 at one end by which they were strung during the drying. 



Mogadore orris root is altogether inferior to both the foregoing 

 varieties. It is in smaller, flatter, and more shrunken pieces, which 

 often bear at their apices the shrivelled remains of numerous con- 

 centrically arranged leaves. Patches of reddish cork are left attached 

 to the drug, which is of darker colour and inferior fragrance. 



Iris versicolor, Linne. The rhizome is narrow, dark brown, longi- 



FIG. 206. Orris rhizome. Transverse sections, o, cortex ; 

 v, endodermis ; 6, stele. Natural size. (Berg.) 



tudinally wrinkled, and purplish internally ; the taste is pungent and 

 acrid. It is the source of the ' iridin ' of commerce. 



SARSAPARILLA 



(Radix Sarsse, Radix Sarsaparillse) 



Source, &C. Several varieties of sarsaparilla are imported but the 

 one known as Jamaica sarsaparilla is the most esteemed in this country. 

 This variety is obtained from Smilax orndta, Hooker films (N.O. 

 Smilacece), a climbing plant with woody stems ascending lofty trees 

 and springing from a stout, knotty rhizome. From the rhizome 

 slender cylindrical roots are thrown off horizontally and creep for 

 many feet a few inches below the surface of the earth. In collecting 

 the roots they are first laid bare and then cut off near the rhizome. 

 After they have been dried they are made into bundles ; a number of 

 these are placed upright and bound with wire into a disc-shaped bale. 



The plant is a native of Central America (Costa Rica) . The root was 

 formerly exported via Jamaica, hence the designation ' Jamaica ' sarsa- 

 parilla, but it is now sent chiefly to New York, and thence to England. 



Description. Jamaica sarsaparilla occurs in bundles about half a 

 metre long and 12 cm. in diameter, weighing about a kilogramme. Each 

 bundle consists of numerous long, slender roots about 3 mm. in thick- 



