Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SMIL'A-CIN, n. [Gr. σμιλαξ; L. smilax, the modern name of a genus of plants.]

A white crystaline solid obtained from the root of Smilax officinalis. It is tasteless when solid, but bitter in solution. From its chimical composition, it is considered to be acid. It has been called pariglin, sasseparin, and parillinic acid, and it is probably the same substance that has been called, smilacina, an objectionable name for a vegetable proximate principle, because it is the name of a genus of plants.