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ON  SARSAPARILLA. 
REMARKS  ON  SARSAPARILLA. 
By  Dr.  Berthold  Seeman. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Linnean  Society,  held  December  6th,  a 
paper  was  read  by  Dr.  Seeman  on  the  above  subject,  of  which 
the  following  abstract  is  given  in  the  Gardener  s  Chronicle : — 
"In  this  interesting  memoir,  Dr.  Seeman  stated,  as  the  con- 
clusions at  which  he  had  arrived,  after  a  careful  investigation  of 
the  subject,  that  the  greater  proportion  of  Sarsaparilla  imported 
under  the  commercial  names  of  4  Jamaica,'  'Lisbon,'  or  «  Brazil- 
ian,' and  <  Guatemala'  or  'Red  Paraguay'  Sarsaparilla,  is  the 
produce  of  one  species  only,  and  that  the  Smilax  officinalis  of 
Humbodlt  and  Bonpland  ;  and  further  that  the  S.  medica  of 
Schlechtendal  and  Chamisso,  and  the  S.  papyracea  of  Poiret,  are 
identical  with  it.  Smilax  officinalis  grows  in  the  lower  coast 
region  as  well  as  on  the  mountains  to  an  elevation  of  5000  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  is  confined,  as  far  as  is  known,  to  the  South 
American  continent  between  the  20th  degree  of  N.  lat.  and  the 
6th  degree  of  S.  lat.,  and  the  110th  and  40th  degrees  of  West 
longitude.  The  article  known  as  Jamaica  Sarsaparilla  is  imported 
into  that  island  from  the  Spanish  Main.  The  roots,  which  form 
the  commercial  article,  abound  more  or  less  in  starch,  according 
to  the  age  and  conditions  under  which  they  have  grown.  The 
stem  is  quadrangular  and  prickly,  the  branches  also  quadrangular 
or  multiangular,  and  with  or  without  prickles,  the  petioles  sheath- 
ing ~  at  the  base,  and  having  a  pair  of  tendrils,  the  leaves  very 
variable,  broadly  cordate,  aknost  three-lobed,  gradually  acuminate 
or  ovate-oblong,  or  even  lanceolate,  and  rounded  at  the  apex, 
but  always  mucronate,  generally  five-nerved,  and  prickly  on  the 
nerves  beneath,  varying  in  length  from  two  inches  to  one  foot, 
and  in  texture  from  coriaceous  to  papery ;  the  flowers,  which 
grow  in  little  umbels  of  about  sixteen  together,  are  unknown,  but 
the  berries  are  round,  red,  and  the  size  of  a  cherry.  Dr.  Seeman 
further  remarks,  that  while  botanists  competent  to  judge  of  the 
question  are  not  likely  to  raise  any  objection  to  his  uniting  these 
three  supposed  species,  pharmacologists  are  less  likely  to  be  con- 
vinced on  this  point,  except  on  the  strongest  evidence,  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  commercial  samples  being  so  different ;  the  Lisbon 
Sarsaparilla,  which  comes  in  rolls  about  three  feet  long,  having 
fewer  rootlets  or  beards  than  that  termed  Jamaica  Sarsaparilla. 
