Search the Community

I was out walking in the bush yesterday and happened upon a very purple form of Sweet Sarsaparilla which I thought might be worth posting up here. Sweet Sarsaparilla is an interesting plant found all over the place in the bush but rarely in cultivation; the Indigenous Australians used it as food source and sweetener, and was used regularly by white settlers in the form of a tea as a tonic and an antiscorbutic. Rescent research suggests it is high in antioxidants. Sweet Sarsaparilla - Purple Form. Can't tell why it is so purple, but it is in full sun which is pretty unusual for these plants. Thanks to Darklight for highlighting this information over at the Sarsaparilla related Cissus antarctica thread. From Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with sixty-five plates of non descript animals, birds, lizards, serpents, curious cones of trees and other natural productions by John White Esquire, (1757/8-1832) Surgeon-General to the [First Fleet and the] Settlement [at Port Jackson] 1790 Over at Australian Bushfoods Forum Mulga has this to say about Sweet Sarsaparilla: Mangiferin also has antioxidant properties, and shows anti-microbial activity.