Herb latin name: Smilax glabra


Family: Smilacaceae (Greenbrier Family)



Medicinal use of Smilax glabra:

The aerial tubers are used in the treatment of abscesses, boils, cystitis, diarrhoea etc. The rhizome is antiarthritic, antiscrophulatic, depurative, skin, stomachic. It has been used in the treatment of cancer, mercury poisoning, acute bacterial dysentery, rheumatoid arthritis and syphilis. It is said to be clinically 90% effective in the treatment of primary syphilis.

Description of the plant:



Plant:
Deciduous
Climber

Height:
3 m
(9 3/4 foot)

Habitat of the herb:

Thickets in uplands, W. China. Forests, thickets, thinly forested slopes along valleys, river banks at elevations of 300 - 1800 metres.

Edible parts of Smilax glabra:

Root - cooked. It can be dried and ground into a powder. The root contains nearly 70% starch. Fruit. The fruit is up to 10mm in diameter. No more details are given.

Propagation of the herb:

Seed - sow March in a warm greenhouse. This note probably refers to the tropical members of the genus, seeds of plants from cooler areas seem to require a period of cold stratification, some species taking 2 or more years to germinate. We sow the seed of temperate species in a cold frame as soon as we receive it, and would sow the seed as soon as it is ripe if we could obtain it then. When the seedlings eventually germinate, prick them out into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first year, though we normally grow them on in pots for 2 years. Plant them out into their permanent positions in early summer. Division in early spring as new growth begins. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found it best to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in a lightly shaded position in a cold frame, planting them out once they are well established in the summer. Cuttings of half-ripe shoots, July in a frame.

Cultivation of Smilax glabra:

Thickets in uplands, W. China. Forests, thickets, thinly forested slopes along valleys, river banks at elevations of 300 - 1800 metres.

Known hazards of Smilax glabra:

None known

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future.