An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

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

Smilax spp (Smilacaceae)

Common Names
Sarsaparilla
How this plant is used
Medicinal
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
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
IRON 6 Root 19.0 91.0 -0.31 *
MAGNESIUM 65 Root 351.0 1670.0 -0.47 *
MANGANESE 14 Root 1.2 5.7 -0.48 *
NEOTIGOGENIN-3-O-BETA-D-GLUCOPYRANOSYL-(1->4)-(ALPHA-L-AMBINOPYRANOSYL-(1->6)-BETA-D-GLUCOPYRANOSIDE 0 Root Bernardo, R. R., Pinto, A. V., Parente, J. P. 1996. Steroidal Saponins from Smilax officinalis. Phytochemistry, 43(2): 465-469.
NIACIN 39 Root *
PARIGENIN 0 Root List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
PARILLIN 6 Root *
PHOSPHORUS 4 Root 372.0 1770.0 -0.31 *
POLLINASTANOL 0 Root Leung, A.Y., Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1980.
POTASSIUM 14 Root 2001.0 9530.0 -0.46 *
PROTEIN 0 Root 14700.0 70000.0 -0.54 *
RESIN 0 Root 25000.0 -0.75 List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
RIBOFLAVIN 15 Root *
SAPONIN 0 Root 5000.0 20000.0 0.19 List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
SARASAPONIN 0 Root List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
SARSAPARILLOSIDE 2 Root *
SARSAPONIN 1 Root *
SARSASAPOGENIN 0 Root *
SARSASAPOGENIN-3-O-BETA-D-GLUCOPYRANOSYL-(1->4)-(ALPHA-L-AMBINOPYRANOSYL-(1->6))-BETA-D-GLUCOPYRANOSIDE 0 Root Bernardo, R. R., Pinto, A. V., Parente, J. P. 1996. Steroidal Saponins from Smilax officinalis. Phytochemistry, 43(2): 465-469.
SELENIUM 60 Root 0.7 3.1 -0.14 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
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
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
Encephalopathic 1 Martindale's 29th
Energizer 1 *
Ergogenic 1 *
Erythrocytogenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Estrogenic 2 *
Febrifuge 1 Neuwinger, H. D. 1996. African Ethnobotany - Poisons and Drugs. Chapman & Hall, New York. 941 pp.
Fibrinolytic 1 *
Fistula-Preventive 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Fungicide 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Gastroprotective 1 *
Gonadotrophic 1 Malini, T. and Vanithakumari, G. 1989. Rat Toxicity Studies With B-Sitosterol. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 28: 221-234, 1990.
Hemolytic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Hepatoprotective 2 *
Hepatotoxic 1 *
Hyperglycemic 1 Merck 11th Edition