# Sarsaparilla (Smilax)

**Zarzaparrilla*, “little bramble vine”*

**Known today as.** The roots of *Smilax* species, thorny climbers of Central and South America.

Kind: Plant  
Poisoning: Saponin irritation (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/saponin)

## What was it used for?

Brought to Europe in the sixteenth century as a cure for the French pox, beside [guaiacum](https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/guaiacum); later a “blood purifier” for rheumatism and the skin.

## What does modern science say?

It does not cure syphilis. Its flavour survived as a soft drink.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **sarsasapogenin and smilagenin**: steroidal sapogenins, from the saponins
- **parillin**: 
- **sitosterol**: 

**Mechanism.** The saponins are mildly diuretic and diaphoretic, which with the sweating regime was the whole of the syphilis cure, a disease that remits on its own between stages; nothing in the root acts on the spirochaete. The sapogenins were a starting material for steroid synthesis in the 1940s, and the “testosterone” of bodybuilding supplements is not in the plant.

**Dose.** Safe; the saponins irritate in excess.

**Standing.** A flavour of root beer; no approved medical use. The German Commission E issued a negative monograph for psoriasis.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Monardes.** Describes the new drug from the Indies and its sweating cure for the pox.

## Sources

- Monardes, N. (1574). *Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales*.
- Pomet, P. (1694). *Histoire générale des drogues* (English, *A Compleat History of Druggs*, 1712).
- Blumenthal, M., ed. (1998). *The Complete German Commission E Monographs*, “Sarsaparilla root (unapproved).”
- Bruneton, J. (1999). *Pharmacognosy*, 2nd ed., “Steroidal saponins.”

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*Sarsaparilla.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-30. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/sarsaparilla

Historical description, not medical advice.