YELLOW PARILLA
Menispermum canadense
COMMON NAMES: Vine-maple, moonseed, Canadian moonseed, Texas sarsaparilla, yellow sarsaparilla.
FEATURES: A perennial member of the moonseed family, yellow parilla grows from Canada to Carolina
and west to the Mississippi. The horizontal, very long, woody root of a beautiful yellow color thrives in
moist woods, hedges, and near streams. The taste is bitter, and it is nearly odorless.
The stem is round and climbing and about 1 foot in length, with roundish smooth leaves, 4–5 inches in
diameter, green above, paler beneath. The small yellow flowers are in clusters in the month of July
followed by one-seeded fruit that is thick, black, and resembles grapes. Its active principle, menispermin,
is sometimes used as a substitute for sarsaparilla.
MEDICINAL PART: Root.
SOLVENTS: Alcohol, water.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Tonic, alterative, diuretic, laxative.
USES: Dr. O. P. Brown (1875): “Yellow Parilla seems to possess one virtue which is paramount to all
others, it is essentially and particularly antisyphilitic, anti-scrofulous, anti-mercurial.” Achieving this, it
is of much merit for all diseases arising from either hereditary or acquired impurities of the system. It
exerts its influence principally on the gastric and salivary glands and is found expressly beneficial in
cases of adhesive inflammation and where it is necessary to break up organized deposits and hasten
disintegration of unwanted tissue. It is believed by some to be superior to sarsaparilla as a blood purifier
for scrofula, blood disorders, gout, rheumatism, and cutaneous skin diseases generally. Also acts as a
tonic and nervine and may be given in all cases of debility and dyspepsia.
DOSE: 1 teaspoonful to 1 cupful of boiling water, steeped 15 minutes; take 1–4 cupfuls a day. Of the
tincture, 5–20 minims; of the powder, 1–4 grains. If it produces vomiting, reduce the dosage.
HOMEOPATHIC CLINICAL: Tincture of the root, trituration of menispermin for backache, headache, itching,
tongue (swelling of).