SARSAPARILLA, a popular alterative remedy, prepared from the long fibrous roots of several species of the genus Smilax, indigenous to Central America, and extending from the southern and western coasts of Mexico in the north to Peru in the south. These plants grow in swampy forests seldom visited by European travellers, and, being dioecious and varying much in the form of leaf in different individuals, they are but imperfectly known to botanists, only two species having been identified as yet with any degree of certainty. These are Smilax officinalis, Kth., and S. medica, Schlecht. and Cham., which yield respectively the so-called “Jamaica” and the Mexican varieties. The introduction of sarsaparilla into European medicine dates from the middle of the 16th century. Monardes, a physi cian of Seville, records that it was brought to that city from New Spain about 1536-45, that a better sort soon afterwards came from Honduras, and that an excellent variety of a darker colour, and consisting of larger roots, was subsequently imported from Guayaquil. Sarsaparilla must have come into extensive use soon afterwards, for Gerard, about the close of the century, states that it was imported into England from Peru in great abundance....
When boiled in water the root affords a dark extractive matter, the exact nature of which has not been determined; the quantity of extract yielded by the root is used as a criterion of its quality. Boiling alcohol extracts from the root a neutral substance in the form of crystalline prisms, which crystallize in scales from boiling water. This body, which is named parillin, is allied to the saponin of quillaia bark, from which it differs in not exciting sneezing. The presence in the root of starch, resin, and oxalate of lime is revealed by the use of the microscope. Sarsaparilla is chiefly used in medicine in the form of decoction and fluid extract. It is regarded by many as a valuable alterative and diaphoretic in chronic rheumatism, syphilis, and various skin diseases, but by others as possessing little if any remedial value. It is frequently prescribed in combination with powerful medicines, such as iodide of potassium or bichloride of mercury.
The varieties of sarsaparilla met with in commerce at present are the following :—Jamaica, Lima, Honduras, Guatemala, Guayaquil, and Mexican. Of these the first-named is the most highly esteemed, as yielding the largest amount of extract, viz., from 33 to 44 per cent.; it is the only kind admitted into the British pharmacopceia. On the Continent, and more especially in Italy, the varieties having a white starchy bark, like those of Honduras and Guatemala, are preferred. “Jamaica” sarsaparilla is not produced there, but derives its name from the fact that Jamaica was at one time the emporium for sarsaparilla, which was brought thither from Honduras, New Spain, and Peru. Sarsaparilla is grown to a small extent in Jamaica, and is occasionally exported thence to the London market in small quantities, but its orange colour and starchy bark are so different in appearance from the thin reddish-brown bark of the genuine drug, that it does not meet with a ready sale. The Jamaica sarsaparilla of trade is collected on the Cordilleras of Chiriqui, in that part of the isthmus of Panama which adjoins Costa Rica, where the plant yielding it grows at an elevation of 4000 to 8000 feet, and is brought down to Boca del Toro on the Atlantic coast for shipment. It is met with in commerce in the form of hanks about 18 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, loosely wound round with a long root of the same drug. The root bark is of a reddish-brown colour, thin and shrivelled, and there is an abundance of rootlets, which are technically known by the name of “beard.” Lima sarsaparilla resembles the Jamaica kind, but the roots are of a paler brown colour, and are formed into cylindrical bundles of similar length, but only about 2½ inches in diameter. Honduras sarsaparilla occurs in the form of cylindrical rolls about 30 inches long and 4 or more in diameter, closely wound round with a long root so as to form a neat bundle. The roots are less wrinkled, and the bark is whiter and more starchy, than in the Jamaica kind. It is exported from Belize to the extent of about 10,000 lb annually. Guatemala sarsaparilla is very similar to that of Honduras, but has a more decided orange hue, and the bark shows a tendency to split off. Guayaquil sarsaparilla is obtained chiefly in the valley of Alausi, on the western side of the equatorial Andes. The roots are roughly packed in large bales and are not made into separate hanks, and the chump or rootstock is often allowed to remain attached to the roots. The bark is thick and furrowed, and of a pale fawn colour internally; the rootlets are few, and the root itself is of larger diameter than in the other kinds. Sometimes there is attached to the rootstock a portion of stem, which is round and not prickly, differing in these respects from that of Smilax officinalis, which is square and prickly. Mexican sarsaparilla also is not made up into hanks, but is packed in straight lengths of about 3 feet into bales, the chump and portions of an angular but not square stem being frequently attached to the roots. The latter are slender, shrivelled, and nearly devoid of rootlets. This kind of sarsaparilla is collected on the eastern slope of the Mexican Andes throughout the year, and is the produce of Smilax medica, Schlecht. and Cham.
The collection of sarsaparilla root is a very tedious business; a single root takes an Indian half a day or sometimes even a day and a half to unearth it. The roots extend horizontally in the ground on all sides for about 9 feet, and from these the earth has to be carefully scraped away and other roots cut through where such come across them. A plant four years old will yield 16 lb of fresh root, and a well-grown one from 32 to 64 lb, but more than half the weight is lost in drying. The more slender roots are generally left, and the stem is cut down near to the ground, the crown of the root being covered with leaves and earth. Thus treated, the plant continues to grow, and roots may again be cut from it after the lapse of two years, but the yield will be smaller and the roots more slender and less starchy. In some varieties, as the Guayaquil and Mexican, the whole plant, including the rootstock, is pulled up. The Indians are guided in their selection of roots by the number of stems arising from the roots, by the thinness of the leaves, and the closeness with which the stem is beset with prickles.
In several species of Smilax the roots become thickened here and there into largo tuberous swellings 4 to 6 inches long, and one or two inches in thickness. These tubers form a considerable article of trade in China, but are used to a limited extent only on the Continent, under the name of China root, although introduced into Europe about the same time as sarsaparilla. China root is obtained both in China and India from Smilax glabra and S. lanceaefolia, Roxburgh, and S. China, L. A similar root is yielded by S. pseudo-China, L., and S. tamnoides in the United States from New Jersey southwards; by S. balbisiana, Kth., in the West Indies, and by S. Japicanga and S. syringoides, Griseb., and S. Brasiliensis, Spreng., in South America. All these are used as an alterative remedy in the localities where they grow. The amount of China root exported to Europe from Canton in 1872 was only 51,200 lb, although in the same year as much as 1,367,733 lb was exported from the city of Hankow to other Chinese ports. In 1882 Bombay imported from China 945 cwts. of the root. The name of Indian sarsaparilla is given to the roots of Hemidesmus indicus, R. Br., an Asclepiadaceous plant indigenous to India. These roots are readily distinguished from those of true sarsaparilla by their loose cracked bark and by their odour and taste, recalling those of melilot.
