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Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Smilax officinalis

Smilax officinalis (Smilacaceae)

Common Names
Sarsaparilla
How this plant is used
Medicinal
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
SILICON 4 Root 2.0 8.8 -0.30 *
SODIUM 1 Root 4.4 21.0 -0.50 *
STARCH 5 Root 52500.0 250000.0 -0.27 *
THIAMINE 0 Root 0.2 0.9 -0.69 *
TIN 4 Root 4.0 18.0 0.15 *
WATER 0 Root 790000.0 0.14 *
ZINC 77 Root 0.5 2.6 -0.95 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
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List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Cancer-Preventive 5 Stitt, P. A. Why George Should Eat Broccoli. Dougherty Co, Milwaukee, WI, 1990, 399 pp.
Candidicide 1 Martindale's 28th
Cardiomyopathogenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Cardioprotective 7 *
Cardiotoxic 1 *
Chemopreventive 1 *
Circulotonic 1 *
CNS-Depressant 1 Facciola, S. 1998. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, Vista CA. 713 pp.
Cold-preventive 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Collagenic 2 *
Colorant 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Copper-Antagonist 1 Challem, J., Berkson, Burt, and Smith, Melissa Dianne. 2000.
Syndrome X - The complete nutritional program to prevent and reservse insulin resistance. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 272 pp. $24.95
COX-1-Inhibitor 1 *
COX-2-Inhibitor 1 *
Deodorant 1 Martindale's 29th
Depressant 1 Cooper-Driver, G. A., Chemical substances in plants toxic to animals, pp. 213-47 in Rechcigl, M., Jr., ed. CRC Handbook of Naturally Occurring Food Toxicants, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1983, 339 pp.
Detoxicant 1 *
Detoxicant (Alcohol) 1 *
Diuretic 4 *
Emollient 1 Martindale's 29th