sarsaparilla

A prickly climbing tropical plant having aromatic roots and heart-shaped leaves. A carbonated drink flavored with sarsaparilla root or birch oil and sassafras.

Sar`sa*pa*ril"la (?), n. [Sp. zarzaparrilla; zarza a bramble (perhaps fr. Bisc. zartzia) + parra a vine, or Parillo, a physician said to have discovered it.] Bot. (a)

Any plant of several tropical American species of Smilax.

The bitter mucilaginous roots of such plants, used in medicine and in sirups for soda, etc.

⇒ The name is also applied to many other plants and their roots, especially to the Aralia nudicaulis, the wild sarsaparilla of the United States.

© Webster 1913.