bamboo brier. Aralia racemosa, American Sarsaparilla, is a member of the Ginseng family. The Sarsaparilla of commercial use consists of very long roots having a thick bark of a greyish or brownish colour, with many slender rootlets, deeply furrowed longitudinally. When cut, sections show a brown, hard bark with a porous centre portion. The roots that have a deep orange tint are the best and the stronger the acrid and nauseous qualities the better are the properties of the root. Height 1 – 2 ft., bearing several bunches of yellowish-green flowers, followed by clusters of small berries resembling, to some extent, the common Elderberry.
Chemically we know the root contains salseparin, a colouring matter, starch, chloride of potassium and essential oil, basserin, albumen, pectic and acetic, and the several salts of lime, potash, magnesium and oxide of iron. The taste is mucilaginous with scarcely any odour. Medicinal Part: The root. Solvents: Water, dilute alcohol. Bodily Influence: Alterative, Diuretic, Demulcent, Stimulant, Anti-scorbutic. Uses: Alfred Metraus, Swedish anthropologist, found Amazon Indians using Sarsaparilla to cure general debilities and he said that it was invigorating to the entire system. Indian hunting expeditions subsided for long periods on Sarsaparilla root.
In the mid-1800s Sarsaparilla was something of a national phenomenon in the United States as a spring tonic to eliminate poisons from the blood and purify the system from all left-over infections of winter. It is dependably useful in rheumatism, gout, skin eruptions, ringworm, scrofula, internal inflammation, colds, catarrh, fever and to relieve gas from stomach and bowels.
When in need of an excellent antidote for deadly poisons, cleanse stomach with an emetic, causing vomiting, and drink copiously of the tea. As an alterative tea it is best prepared with Burdock( Lappa). One of the best herbs to use for infants infected with venereal diseases. They can be cleansed without the use of mercurials. Also wash the pustules of sores with a tea made of the root and administer inwardly by mixing the powdered root with food.
WILD SARSAPARILLA Aralia nudicaulis, L.( Wild Plants, Canadian Agricultural Department, Ottawa, 1964)
Dose: 1 oz. of the root boiled in 1 pint of water, taken in wineglassful amounts three times a day. For colds, etc., it should be used as a syrup, 1 teaspoonful to 1 tablespoonful four times a day, depending on age and condition. Of the tincture, 20 – 40 drops four times a day. Externally: As a strong tea for skin infections. Homoeopathic Clinical: Triturations and tincture of the dried rhizome— Asthma, Bladder( affections of), Bones( affections of), Breast( scirrhus of), Bright’ s disease, Calculi, Climaxis, Constipation, Dyspepsia, Dysuria, Enuresis, Eruptions, Eyes( affections of), Faintness, Glands( enlarged), Gonorrhoea, Gout, Gravel, Hands( chapped), Headache, Hernia, Herpes( of prepuce), Hiccough,