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Rough Bindweed (Mediterranean Sarsaparilla)
Smilax aspera
Also known as Mediterranean Sarsaparilla, Rough Smilax, Prickly Ivy, Salsaparilla, Sweethearts
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Long before the Americas gave the world the sarsaparilla of root beer fame, Mediterranean villagers were digging up the gnarled roots of this thorny hedgerow vine for much the same purpose. In Italy it was called salsapariglia nostrana, 'our own sarsaparilla,' and simmered into a bitter spring decoction meant to clear the blood and stir a sluggish body back to life after winter. Folk healers from Spain to Greece turned to it for stubborn skin complaints and the aches of rheumatism, wrapping the root's reputation as a great purifier into the rhythm of the changing seasons. Foragers still recognize it today by the way it snags a sleeve with its recurved thorns, a small toll for a root with such a long memory.
How to grow & use it
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- ✦Burdock root
- ✦Dandelion root
- ✦Red clover
- ✦Burdock root
- ✦True sarsaparilla (Smilax ornata)
“For the wild, thorny root that Mediterranean hedgerows have offered up every spring for generations.”
The genus name Smilax honors a nymph from Greek myth who, in one old tale, was transformed into a thorny, clinging vine, a fitting origin story for a plant that still grabs at passersby with its recurved prickles.
Stems carry sharp, recurved thorns, so handle fresh material carefully. As a mild diuretic, use caution with kidney concerns or during pregnancy.