Flora Medica

SMILACE^E.Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 359.SMILAX.Dioecious. Perianth 6-parted, nearly equal, spreading. ^ .Stamens 6 ;anthers erect. J Perianth permanent. Ovary.3-celled, the cells 1-seeded; style very short; stigmas 3. Berry1-3-seeded. Seeds roundish ;albumen cartilaginous-; embryoremote from the hilum. RBr.*#* According to Dr. Hancock, to whom we are so much indebtedfor valuable information concerning the medicinal plants of Guayana,there is but one species of Smilax that yields genuine Sarsaparilla.This grows chiefly on the elevated lands of the Rio Imiquen, at Unturanaand Caraburi ;but it is constantly adulterated with inferior sorts.Dr. Hancock says that the Sarsa of the Rio Negro, which comes byway of Angostura or Para is the best, and this is certainly not Willdenow'sS. siphilitica: the true species has no axillary spines. It appearsthat of six or eight species of Smilax growing in the woods ofGuayana, but one is found to manifest to the taste any of the sensibleproperties of the genuine medicinal Sarsa ;the root being insipid andinert ;that one Dr. Hancock " describes thus :The stem is round, armed with short curved spines. The leavesare oblong, pointed, distant, smooth and glossy. The root is a tuberwith numerous divergent fibres of 2 or 3 lines in thickness and severalfeet in length."Dr. Hancock further remarks, that " the Sarsaparilla of the shopsis for the most part nearly inert, either from age or from being procuredfrom several nonmedicinal species. It should be taken from recentimportations in the roll, and not be that which is kept slit up in* theshops, which is very often quite useless. Good Sarsaparilla has apeculiar nauseous acrimony when chewed, and this is almost the onlycriterion we have for judging of its medicinal activity." The propertiesof Sarsaparilla as a medicine are emetic, diaphoretic, narcotic, causingnausea and prostration of strength, and affecting the tongue and faucesmore or less with a nauseous acrimony. The active principlesaredriven off by heat. See a memoir in the Med. bot trans. 1829, p. 61.1269. S. aspera Linn. sp. pi. 1458. DC. iii.fl. fr. 178.Willd. sp. pi.iv. 773. ( Clus. hist. i. 112.) South of Europe,Barbary.There is a general opinion, adopted I know not how, that IndianSarsaparilla is produced by this plant; and upon that supposition Mr.Garden has named a new principle he has found in it, Smilasperic acid.(Med. Gaz. xx. 800.) I cannot however discover any good authorityfor the rhizoma of Smilax aspera possessing active properties, andI presume, as it is not an Indian plant, there must be some mistakein the matter. Indian Sarsaparillais produced by Hemidesmus indicusan asclepiadaceous plant, which see, No. 1153.597 QQ 3