Some Morphological and Chemical Characteristics of Sarsaparilla (Smilax aspera L., Smilax excelsa L.)

Two sarsaparilla species Smilax aspera L. and Smilax excelsa L. show natural distribution in Hatay flora. In the study, besides some phenological and morphological characteristics, antioxidant capacity and fixed oil contents and components of Smilax species collected from different locations were determined. The highest 100 fruit weight with 37.69 g was obtained from the sample of S. aspera L. species collected from Yayladagi 2 location and the highest 100 seed weight with 24.47 g from Yayladagi 1 location. In terms of antioxidant capacity of the leaves and fruits, insignificant differences were observed among the species and locations. The antioxidant capacities of leaves ranged 62.28 to 64.57 mmol.Fe+2/kg while fruit antioxidant capacities ranged from 63.91 to 66.31 mmol. Fe+2/kg. The highest value of seed fixed oil with 11.42% was obtained from the S. aspera L. sample collected in Yaylada？？ 3 location. Major fatty acid component was found as vaccenic acid in general for all samples. The highest content of vaccenic acid found as 37.50% from S. aspera seed samples of Yayladagi 2 location. As a result, the leaves and berries of smilax species could be considered as a significant natural antioxidant source