SARSAPARILLA

sarsaparilla. Sarsaparilla, n. the name of a plant and tree

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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. (b) 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.