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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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EXCEL
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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
Interferonogenic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Laxative 2 *
Leptingenic 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
Lithogenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Litholytic 1 *
Memorigenic 1 *
Mucogenic 2 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Mucolytic 1 Martindale's 28th
Myorelaxant 1 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Neurotransmitter 1 *
NF-kB-Inhibitor 2 *
Ornithine-Decarboxylase-Inhibitor 1 *
Osteogenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Pesticide 5 *
Phagocytotic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Polyamine-Synthesis-Inhibitor 1 *
Poultice 1 Martindale's 29th
Prooxidant 2 *
Prostaglandin-Sparer 1 Fujita, T., Nakatani, E., Funaishi, N., Sakuma, S., Fujimoto, Y. Potent inhibition of prostaglandin inactivation in rabbit gastric antral mucosal slices by selenium ions in-vitro. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 42: 655-657, 1990.
Protein-Kinase-C-Inhibitor 1 *