70 
I may, therefore, safely conclude that the greater portion of sarsa- 
parilla is the produce of one species of Smilax ; and that species is S. 
officinalis, H. et B. (S. papyracea, Pozr., S. medica, Cham. et Schlecht.) 
But I do not wish it to be believed that, by showing the identity of 
these three supposed species, I intend to abolish the commercial dis- 
tinctions now so universally acknowledged in the sarsaparilla trade. As 
long as the Brazilians continue to strip the roots of their beard, and 
put-them up in the same long rolls as they now do, there will always 
be Lisbon sarsaparilla in the market; as long as the inhabitants of the 
Spanish main continue to preserve the rootlets, we shall have Jamaica 
sarsaparilla; and as long as the climate and other physical circum- 
stances of Guatemala remain unchanged, we shall always receive from 
that locality sarsaparilla distinguished by its abundance of starchy 
matter ! 
Additional Note. 
After the foregoing paper had been read at the Linnean Society, an 
animated discussion ensued, which brought to light several interesting 
facts bearing upon the question brought forward. Mr. Wallace 
remarked, that during the whole of his travels on the Amazon and 
Rio Negro he had never seen the sarsaparilla growing; and he 
believed that that plant was solely confined to the slopes of moun- 
tains, and not to be met with in alluvial soil. ‘“ The Indians,” he 
continued, “ of the region explored by me never employ the sarsapa- 
rilla medicinally ; and they cannot conceive what the Europeans do 
with the enormous quantities of the drug annually passing down the 
Amazon.” “The medicinal properties of the sarsaparilla,” said Dr. 
J. D. Hooker, “ are still a subject open to great discussion. In gene- 
ral, physicians set little or no value upon the drug, while surgeons 
ascribe to it highly beneficial powers. I myself have taken sarsapa- 
rilla when I was ill, and it has done me no good; and again I have 
taken it when I was quite well, and have experienced no ill effects 
from it.. With regard to the synonymes united with Smilax officina- 
lis by Dr. Seemann, I may remark that I do not think they will be 
objected to by botanists who take a broad and comprehensive view of 
the vegetable kingdom. But, unfortunately, the number of such men 
is small, compared with those who, to the greatest disadvantage to 
science, multiply the synonymes by giving new names to every form 
that happens to be so unlucky as to assume periodically a feature 
' different from the specimen which served as type of the original 
