Sarsaparilla

Sarsaparilla, the long fibrous rhizomes and roots of several species of the genus Smilax, a group of prickly climbing shrubs, with cordate, net-veined leaves and stipular tendrils, natives of the tropics, the type of a sub-order of Liliaceae. The flowers are dioecious, and the plants grow in swampy forest regions little visited by Europeans, so that there is some doubt about the species; but Mexican sarsaparilla is believed to be produced by S. medica, and the "Jamaica" sarsaparilla from Guatemala and Columbia, formerly shipped from Jamaica, by S. officinalis. The former is known as "mealy" from an abundance of starchy matter under the rind; the latter, the most esteemed, as "red-bearded," from the colour of the rootlets. Other commercial varieties are Lima, Honduras, Guatemala, and Guayaquil sarsaparillas. When boiled, the roots yield an extract, the quantity and acridity of which is the test of the quality of the sample. In addition to starch, resin, and oxalate of lime, there is a crystallisable neutral substance known as parillin. We import about 150 tons annually. There are three preparations of this drug in the Pharmacopoeia. The compound decoction of sarsaparilla was at one time a very favourite remedy in cases of syphilis and rheumatism, but it is not now often used.