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.

Smilax officinalis Family.:

Smilax sarsaparilla, Linne, is "of doubtful origin, and so far as growing in the United States, it is not now recognized "(Walter Evans, Lilly's Bulletin, No. 16, Aug., 1891).

 Smilax Tamnoides, Linne.:Indigenous. Tubers used like sarsaparilla.

 Bamboo Brier, Virginia Sarsaparilla.:Of this species Prof. King (American Dispensatory, 11th ed.) says: "There is a plant in the south extensively known as Bamboo brier, the root of which I have much used in practice, and with decidedly more successful results than from the use of any of the sarsaparillas of the shops, and I invite the attention of physicians to it, as a remedy in every respect superior to the usual commercial article, especially in primary and secondary syphilitic diseases." This plant is derived from Smilax lanceolata, Linne, and, according to W. H. Evans (loc. cit.) has been confused with Smilax Pseudo-China, Linne (more). The stem is tall, often 30 to 40 feet, mostly unarmed; the branches are round, unarmed; leaves evergreen, paler beneath, rather thin, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute at each end, 3 to 5-ribbed, margin smooth, petiole short, most often without tendrils; the peduncles are short; flowers in May; the berries are 3-seeded, black when ripe; mature from August to September. This species grows in rich woods and swamps, where the entire rhizome frequently weighs 200 to 300 pounds when fresh. It grows from Virginia to Florida, and west to Arkansas and Texas (Lilly's Bulletin, No. 16, Aug., 1891). It was employed by the Indians as an antisyphilitic, and by the whites as a "blood purifier." Rheumatism, scrofula, and cutaneous affections are said to be cured by it. A decoction maybe freely used. (See illustration, next page.)


 Smilax China, Linne, has a hard, large, knotty, uneven rhizome, brown or blackish externally, whitish within. Stem tapering, slightly prickly, growing 2 or 3 feet high without support, but acquiring a greater length if scrambling among bushes. Leaves thin, membranous, roundish, 5-nerved, acute or obtuse at each end, mucronate at the point; stipules distinct, obtuse. Umbels small, 10-flowered, greenish-yellow. Fruit red, about the size of a bird cherry (L.). This plant grows in eastern Asia (China and Japan), and furnishes the China root (Rhizoma [radix] Chinae) of commerce. It has been used as a substitute for sarsaparilla, but is found not to be as active. It occurs in large, ligneous, knotty pieces, from 2 to 6 or more inches in length, and 1 to 2 inches in diameter; externally, it is grayish-brown; internally, a light-flesh, or yellowish-white color. It is inodorous, and has a slightly astringent taste (P.).

 Smilax Aspera, Linne.:South Europe. Employed like sarsaparilla.

 Smilax Pseudo-China, Linne, False China root, China brier, American China root, China root of Mexico.Grows in New Jersey and west to southern Indiana and Missouri, south to Florida and the West Indies. The root is also used in Mexico, and regarded as diaphoretic and antisyphilitic. It is official in the Mexican Pharmacopoeia, under the name Raiz de China de Mexico (Smilax Pseudo-China, Schlechtendal).

 A False Jamaica Sarsaparilla, a species of Philodendron, is described by C. Hartwich (Archiv der Pharm., 1894; also see Pharm. Jour. Trans., Vol. VII, 1898, p. 583).

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.