Sarsaparilla.Smilax officinalis,Legend of Smilax China.

Contents

• Basic Botanical Info:Sarsaparilla,Smilax officinalis.
• Botanical Description:Sarsaparilla,Smilax Medica,Smilax China.
• Sarsaparilla Phytochemicals and Constituents.
• Botanical Source and History of Sarsaparilla,Smilax root.
• Sarsaparilla Tribal and Herbal Medicine Uses.
• Current Practical Uses of Sarsaparilla,Smilax root.
• Sarsaparilla Worldwide Ethnomedical Uses.
• Administration and Suggestions:hwo to use Smilax officinalis?.
• Smilax officinalis Family.
• Research Update:Smilax officinalis.

Botanical Source and History of Sarsaparilla,Smilax root.:

The Sarsaparillas are all climbing plants, having aculeate (prickly) stems; there are many species, but they do not all possess medicinal activity. Most of the drug-yielding species grow in the marshy forests of Mexico and the territory extending to the northern portion of Brazil. The botanical source of the sarsaparillas of commerce is not always exactly known; this, for example, is the case with Honduras sarsaparilla, which seems to be derived from several and partly undetermined species of Smilax, mostly from Smilax officinalis. The following species, however, are generally conceded to yield the drug in its various commercial forms.

 Smilax officinalis has a twining, angular, prickly, and shrubby stem; the young shoots being unarmed. The leaves are ovate-oblong, acute, cordate, netted, 5 or 7-nerved, coriaceous, smooth, 1 foot long and 4 or 5 inches broad; the young ones are lanceolate, oblong, acuminate, and tri-nerved. The petioles are 1 inch long, smooth, bearing tendrils above the base. Flowers unknown. This plant grows in New Granada, on the banks of the Magdalena, was collected, in 1805, by Humboldt, and is called Sarzaparilla by the natives. Great quantities of it are sent to Carthagena, whence it is shipped to Jamaica, and, together with that coming from Central America (derived from Smilax ornata, Lemaire (more); see Pharm. Jour. Trans., 1889, p. 889), constitutes Jamaica sarsaparilla.

 Smilax medica has an angular, zigzag, or flexuous stem, armed with straight aculei at the joints, and a few hooked ones in the intervals. The leaves are of the texture of paper, smooth, bright-green on each side, cordate, auriculate, shortly acuminate, and 5-nerved, with the veins of the underside prominent; form, being ovate, they are variable in somewhat panduriform, auriculate, and somewhat hastate, with the lobes of the base obtuse, sometimes obsolete, sometimes divaricating; their edges not straight, but as if irregularly crenate; the petioles and midrib are armed, when old, with straight, subulate prickles. The peduncles vary in length from 3 lines to 1 inch or more. The umbel is about 12-flowered, with the pedicels about 3 lines long. Schiede (1829) found this plant on the east slope of the Mexican Andes, where the root is gathered and then carried to Vera Cruz; it is supposed to furnish the Vera Cruz or Mexican sarsaparilla of commerce (L.).


 Smilax papyracea has a 4-cornered, or plane-angular, polished, prickly stem; leaves somewhat membranous, oval-oblong, obtuse at both ends, or usually point-letted at the apex, quite entire, unarmed, and 5-ribbed, with 3 more prominent ribs. Cirrhi are inserted beneath the middle of the petiole. This plant grows in the province of Rio Negro and neighboring places, and yields the Brazilian or Para sarsaparilla.
 

 Smilax syphilitica, Kunth (more), has a round, smooth stem, furnished only at the knots with 2 to 4 short, thick, straight prickles. The leaves are a foot long, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, shining, coriaceous, 3-nerved, and terminated by a long point (L.). Humboldt and Bonpland discovered this plant on the rivers Cassiquiare and Rio Negro.

 After sarsaparilla was introduced to Europe from the New World in the mid-sixteenth century, the medication was valued primarily as a treatment for syphilis. This reputation, disguised under the terms "alterative" or "blood purifier," continued in medical circles well into the present century.


 Sarsaparilla contains a mixture of saponins derived mainly from sarsapogenin and smilagenin. The saponins have a strong diuretic action as well as some diaphoretic, expectorant, and laxative properties. In addition, the plant material is a moderately useful flavoring agent. Neither the whole medication nor its contained saponins is effective in the treatment of syphilis or as a "blood purifier."

 In recent times, sarsaparilla has been widely promoted as one of the ingredients in various herbal combination products intended to serve athletes and bodybuilders as legal replacements for illegal steroidal medications. To promote such usage, some distributors claim that sarsaparilla contains testosterone. As a matter of fact, that hormone has never been detected in any plant, including sarsaparilla. Advertisements also claim that the saponins in the herb are converted in some way in the body to allow them to function similar to anabolic steroids. This is also untrue. But the most deceptive practice of all with respect to sarsaparilla is the substitution for it, in some commercial herb products, of Hemidesmus indicus (L.) Schult. Known as false sarsaparilla or as Indian sarsaparilla for its country of origin, sarsaparilla belongs to an entirely different plant family (Asclepiadaceae), and it does not contain the same saponins or other principal constituents found in sarsaparilla. Read the label carefully of any product said to contain sarsaparilla; the herb must be obtained from appropriate Smilax species originating in tropical America, not from Hemidesmus.

 For venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea a sarsaparilla tea has been shown to be effective. Bring 1 qt. of water to a boil, adding 2 tbsps. each of sarsaparilla and yellow dock roots. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove cover and add 3-1/2 tsp. of dried thyme herb. Cover again and steep an additional hour.

Reference:

• 1.Sarsaparilla.Smilax officinalis,Legend of Smilax China.

This article written and edited via herbalist of MDidea Extracts Professional. They run a range of online descriptions about this herb,including general information related and summarized updating discoveries from findings of professional scientisits this field related.Describe style aimed to form a useful detecting literature space where the intertwined threshold and related questions raise out and visualize themselves.

♣ last edit date:26th,Oct.2010.