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Show Cuar. ii. Theatrum Botanicum. Tripe 2. 3: Smilax afpera Pernana five Satfaparila, WeftLadia Sarfaparillas 4: 29) Smilax afpera(pinofa ec non fpino/? folio. Prickély Bindyweede, with ced and with blacke betties, Fripe 2 Lhe TheaterofPlantes. Cuar.it joynts.or knots, from which joynts or knots; fhoote other rates and fhortfibres, and inthe more moyft and mellow, are greater or {trings, which indry grounds, are but Gall .and longer, without any joynt:atall in them, (as is to be {eene.in the rootes.of many other plants, whofe rootes they, whichare like the Sar/apari//a, and not the firtt, which are have many ftrings) and that. thefe rootes are fhort-and full of joynts: and that the fmalnefle of the rootes of Smilaxafpera, growing in Italy, or other dryer and foyle, rather than any thing-elfes. by this narration you mayConntries, mutt berather imputed to the climate perceivethe judgementof the elder times, and likewife their practifeto ufe Swsilax afpera.inftead of Sarfaparslla, for the difeafes whereunto Sarfaparilla is roper: but I verily beleeye that the plant of San/apari/la, that groweth .in Perv, Fe kind ofit felfe,differing from the Smilax. afpera,as notably as. the AZechogcan and the Wek | ndies, isa pecu> from our Brionyeand may yery well be that plane that Simon de Tovar, chiefe Phyfitian of Sewi//in fowed the feedes of, and hadit growing with him; andof the fecd that he fent to C/a/iws under the name Spaine, of Convolvwlus peregrinus, didoneplantlikewile {pring for.a yeare with HoneStus Lopes, in the low Countries,to whom Clufius had imparted fome of Zo. vars fede, but perifhed at the firft approach ofwinter: the defcriptions of both Tovar and Clufixs, in their manner of growing, are fet forthby C/afus, in the fecond booke and 18 chapter of his: Exotickes or ftrang things, which I thinke notamiffe here to relate unto you, yet contract ed into one, leaft it (hould bee too tedious to fet themdownebothparticularly: Haying pur.the feedeinto the ground,t he firft two leayes that {prung (fay To var and (lufizs)..were very like the fir two. leaves of Campanula Indica, the blue Bindwee de (and fuch likewife doth the feede of eMechoacan yeeld, at the firlt {pringin g faith many branches,.which woond themfelves, very much aboutthTovar) the roote afterward faith Tovar fent forth e poales thar were fet for them to clime on,like unto Swlax afpera; having fuch like leaves alfo, but greater and fofter; the branches had crooked thotnesor prickes, growing on them likewife as the Smilax afpera hath,but fewerandn Lopes faith Clufims, {prang wp with many branches, windingit felfe alfoabo othing fo fharpe: that of Hozeffns nt the poales, that were ftucke into the ground by. them; having fome tender prickeslike thornes growing onthem, efpecial ly at the joynts, which were(faith he) nothing but the firkt {prouting of rootes, whichno doubt would have taken hold of the ground, ifearth had beeneput unto them ; it had very greene leaves faith Clufias, like unto Bindweede, but longer, and cornerédlike Ivie leaves, ending ina longpoint, like tothe leavesof Smilax afpera ; the flowersfaith Tovar were great and white, every one as bigge asa middle fifed difh, which opening inthe morning did fade at night; from whencethe Spaniardscalled the plant B#enas noches, that is, good night: the plant of Honeflus Lopex faith Clufizs, brought forth buddes for fowers, but could nor bring them to perfeGti on, the earely frofts deftroying Stites nothing ftom it, AZatthiolus {etteth downethis relation in his Commentaries, in the 1.5 1.:chapter ofhis. firlt booke of Dio/éori.. des, {peaking ofSar/aparilla, whatplant it {hould be, and agree- Buenas nockes Hifpanis. The heados with feedes of che true Sarfaparilla as ic ig fuppofe d. eth with Ghinws, that the Smilax afpera (with red berrie s, for in not {peaking of the other he; declareth that he knew itnot‘) the true Sarfa, which both Ghinus and others likewife had was proved by manytrials, to be as effe@uall. to cure the French the Sar/a of the Indies. Profper Alpinus likewife.inh difeafe, as £¢yptianplants, declareth that. he found the Mfland is booke of Zaccynthus the rootes of Smilax ajpera, whofe leavesin he fetteth forth to bee without prickles, growing by a running river fide, larger andfuller of fubftance; than everhe had feene to be greater them, in any otherplace in Italy before; arid being fo like Indies,thathe was fully perfwaded the Sarfapthe true Sarfa ofthe arilla that commeth tom Per#, was the rootes of Smilax aspera; the ence betweenethem,in greatnefle or goodneffe, ifanybe, differ to be onely in the climate and foyle; and faith thatan Apothecary in that Ifle, ae gotten much money thereby,both byhis owne pra¢tife, and the fale of them to others rereover that he faw himfelfe, in for Sarfa: and faith fome bundles ofthe Indian Sara, fome of the rootes, that had the knots reo theSmilax lpera hath, and fome ar leaves therein alfolike it, whichmyf elfe have fometimes feene in He a Gabriel Fallopins likewi fe in the booke that he wrote ofthe cure ofthe Japerite mate faiththus ; I Was perfw French difeafe, in the aded faith he,and {toodinthat opinion along s foe s we Tooteot Ebulus time, that the Saror Wall worrejuntilla Spaniard that broug ht the whole Iperiss techs= c - ertour knowne unto my plant unto the Duke felfe; for I fawit to be the roote of that Smilax alpera, that Dios ‘Ted wie : eaceom make menti on of in their writings; arid was better his Smiles afpen na : creat in curing confirmed in myopinion; by diverfe about Pifa as perfeGtly of the French difeafe, by the rootes of seaeee. Sata es - i beanfed to bee digged up for my afe, growing onthe hill of S. dulian, a8 with the Todas Phyfite % ’ or. a> petres while I ftayed there to prattife Phyficke; which Opinion alfo Amatus Luo Drewethiancdrer a ordi potealthough a Tew, confirmeth inthe fift booke of his Centuries. ae fwshe aan Aacrenee, Alpinus alfo in the rootes of Smilax afpera, where at many in his time ftumbled ; ps fy tp: awit nN eats for Stowing in Jtaly, tobe fhorcand full of idiahen wes tas 4 knots, withf rall fibres at S ¢ long and {inooth withont any knots:'to enforme you therefore throug the end; ¥ this doubs 5: he fheweth that the hly herein, firlt roores of Smilax'afpera, are downe right; fhort, andfull of joynts the whole plant: C/#fi#s faith that he had a {mall branch with three headesof feed thereon,( whofe figure Lhere give you) the largelt that ever he faw inthat kinde,forit had five leaves a peece, every one almoftan inch broad and long, which feemed ta be the cup of the fowerand fruite, every head which was three {quare and skinnie, had withinie three round feede, asbig as great peafe, of afmoaki e or brownifh colour. The report of Mafter White a Paintér, unto Mafter Gerrar: , as he ferteth it downe in the chapter of Sarfaparilla, is fomewhat to this purpofe; rhatic is the roote of a fhrube or hedgetree, like unto Hawtho rne trees with leaves like Ivye, the comparifon unto Hawthorneis tude, according to hisskill, butit feemeth the branches abide and perifh not,there {preading very much: the leaves are better refembled : but flowersor fruite he remembred not, Thefe defcriptions doe feeme unto me, (although no mentionof roote be expreffed in the relation) very probably to fet forth the growing of Sar/aparilla, whereofno doubt Simon de Tovar, ifhe had lived longer; had given Clufins better information: Bawhinus in his Pinas, maketh it a third {pecies of Smilax aspera, calling it tertia Smilase aspera India Occidentalis: time no doubt will declare the truth hereofmore plainely, yetit might be haftened, if there were in any eminentperfon, any fuch ingenuity of{pirit, as to cafe fuch things, thatare rare to be fonghr out, and brought heme (and many {uch thére are in Italy, asat Florence, Rome, Venice, Padou, and many other places, that have their gardens ftored with all the rareft plants they can heare of, and brought thither) and then ifcare,diligence and experience had the ordering ofthem, after they were brought, they might make them fa- mous that procured them, and be the meanes of a great deale of knowledgeto others, for the true declaration of fuch things,asare.either doubtfull or hiddenin the courfe of Phyficke. The Place. 5 The two firtt growin Italy, Spaine, and other the warmer Countries, whether the continent or Ifles, thronghe out Exropeand Afa: butthe third is found onely inthe Weft Indies ; the belt commeth (as itis fayd) from the Honduras,others not {o good from other places there, as the fertility or the.barrennefle ofthe ground, andthe temperature of the climate, affordeth meanes thereof. The Time. : : Jn the hotter Countries thefe flower, and bringforth their berries timely enoughin the yeare, but in thefg colder Countries, without conveniencie to keepe them in the winter, the frofts will foone confime them, The Names, ‘ The word Smilaxis diverfly taken and withdiverfe fignifica tions among writers; itis taken for twoforts of trees, itis likewife takenfor three forts of hetbes, Theophra ftzs maketh mention of one of the trees, in. the 3. booke and 16 chapter of his hiftory, calling it. Smilax Arcadu m a foft Oake, which islike unto an ex or Holly Oake. The other which the Grecianscall Smilax fimply,is ‘called in Latine Taxus, the Yewtree: the herbes, are firlt, this here expreffed, as well as the other more gentle fort, whichis the common Bindeweede, this the Grecians call TMiAuk reaxcia Smilax alpera,asthey call the other cuiaet adn Smilax levis fine letisy.and the other the Grecians call aulnak unmaia Smilax hortenfis Kidney Beane,as fhall be fhewed in theirfeverall places. , which is Dolichus or Phafeolus, the French or This Smilax a/pera is called alfo of Galenin his feventh booke of fimples A4ilax Apera. Theodorus Gaza the tranflater. of 7)heophraftus, interpretethit Hedera Cilicia, following Péinye, who faith in 46, 26.c. 35.that the herbe called Smilax which is like unto Ivye, and came firlt ont ofCilicia, but is more frequent in Greece, hath thornie branches,&c, Plinye alfo calleth it Nicophoros lik, 24. chap. 10» Itis called generally of all Smilax afpera, onely Loniceru s -calleth it Volubjls afpera, and Clufxs ast thinkefirt of all diftinguifhed it by the berries, calling the one x#tilo frvétu, andthe other nigro, when as they might as wellbe diftinguifhed by their leayes, the red berryed as I take it having thornie Jeaves, and om— |