SarsaparillaSmilax

Did you know?

• The name comes from the Spanish zarzaparrilla, from zarza, "bramble", and parrilla, "little vine"^{[4, 5]}.

• Dried sarsaparilla roots were crossing the Atlantic from the Americas in the 1500s, and English borrowed the Spanish name in the 1570s^{[3, 4, 5]}.

• Sarsaparilla root, often blended with wintergreen, has long been used to flavor root beer and other sodas^[6].

• Sarsaparilla soda is remembered as a drink of the American Old West^[7].

• Jamaican sarsaparilla does not come from Jamaica. It is Smilax ornata, a vine of Mexico and Central America, and it took its trade name from being shipped to Europe through Jamaica^{[1, 8]}.

• Indian sarsaparilla is not a sarsaparilla at all. It is Hemidesmus indicus, an unrelated plant from a different family^[7].

Origins and history

Sarsaparilla vines are woody climbers of wet tropical forests, and a single vine can trail up to 50 meters (about 160 feet)^{[1, 3, 6]}. The name covers several species whose roots have been traded as sarsaparilla, among them Smilax ornata (also known as S. regelii), S. aristolochiifolia and S. officinalis^{[1, 3, 5]}. Smilax ornata, for example, is native to Mexico and Central America^[1]; it is a large climber with sharp prickles on its stems and roots that can spread 6 to 8 feet^[8]. In every case the part used is the root^{[3, 7]}. Botanical names in the genus have shifted over the years: the name Smilax officinalis has been given to more than one plant, and the species accepted under that name today, described in 1816, grows wild from Honduras to Ecuador^{[1, 2]}.

Sarsaparilla was one of the plant goods that crossed from the Americas to Europe in the 1500s. Its dried roots were in European use during that century, and the Spanish name, zarzaparrilla, passed into English in the 1570s^{[3, 4, 5]}. Over time the roots came to be sold under regional names, such as Honduran, Jamaican, Mexican and Ecuadorian sarsaparilla^{[3, 7]}. Some of these names describe a shipping route rather than a home: Jamaican sarsaparilla grew in Central America and was exported to Europe through Jamaica^[8].

At first the English word meant only the plant and its dried root^[4]. Then, in the 1800s, sarsaparilla found a new life in the glass. The word came to mean a sweet soft drink, popular across the United States^[4], and sarsaparilla root, often blended with wintergreen, went into root beers and other sodas^[6]. The drink is still remembered as a favorite of the American Old West^[7]. Today the root is used as a natural flavoring in foods and soft drinks^{[3, 6]}. Other Smilax roots have found their way into drinks too: in eastern Cuba, pieces of the rhizome of Smilax domingensis are simmered with other plants, sweetened and briefly fermented to make a traditional refreshment called pru^[9].

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of sarsaparilla in people are still few, but its traditional use is rich and wide-ranging^{[3, 7]}.

• A flavor for drinks

  Sarsaparilla root has flavored soft drinks and root beers for generations^{[3, 6]}.

• Healthy-looking skin

  Sarsaparilla root has a long folk tradition as an herb for the skin. It supports healthy-looking skin.*^{[3, 7]}

• Joint comfort

  It also has a long folk tradition for the joints. Sarsaparilla supports joint function and comfort.*^{[3, 7]}

• A traditional tonic

  A classic English herbal of the early 20th century lists sarsaparilla root as a tonic. Sarsaparilla supports energy and vitality.*^[8]

Plant compounds

Sarsaparilla root contains plant steroids called steroidal saponins, among them sarsaparilloside and parillin^[3]. Their sugar-free cores, called sapogenins, include sarsasapogenin^[3]. The root also contains plant sterols^{[3, 7]}.