Sarsaparilla

Sarsaparilla, or SARS. This is the dried root of the Smilax officinalis, a plant belonging to the natural order Smilaceæ, and a native of Central America. In the British Pharmacopoeia it is known as Sarsæ Radix, or Jamaica Sarsaparilla, being imported from that island, and having first been brought into Europe from the West Indies about 1530. There are, however, several other species of Smilax having the same properties, and growing in the warmer parts of America. They are twining shrubs, sometimes attaining a very considerable height, and growing only where there is abundance of water. The root is many feet long, about the thickness of a goose-quill, brownish in colour, with numerous rootlets. They are folded and packed into bundles about 18 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, bound by a long root. The taste is mucilaginous, slightly bitter and acrid; it has no smell. The root contains a crystalline glucoside, smilacin, a volatile oil, resin, starch, &c. A decoction, a compound decoction, and a liquid extract made from the root are all officinal. These preparations act as diuretics and diaphoretics, and are used as alteratives in syphilis, rheumatism, and some skin diseases. Their value is much disputed, and they are not nearly so often prescribed as formerly. The root of Hemidesmus Indicus is also officinal, and is sometimes called Indian Sarsaparilla. The root of Smilax aspera is known as Italian Sarsaparilla, while those of various species of Carex are known as German Sarsaparilla. The form Zarsaparilla occurs in Lyte's Dodoens (1578), the word being perhaps a compound of the Spanish carça or zarza, 'bramble,' and parilla, 'a little vine.'