Bear Drummer wrote:

I am trying to find a source for sarsaparilla for us to grow - We are
in Southern Mississippi... we love root beer, and my sister has started
making teas with what she finds at the herb shops, but we want to grow
it, not buy it in bulk...

I have searched Burpee's, and done google searches looking for a
source... does anyone have ideas on where to obtain some?

Sarsaparilla is an extract from the roots of Smilax officinalis.
Its use in root beer was for the foam (head) it creates, not for
its flavoring.

You want either sasparilla (different from sarsaparilla) or
sassafras, each of which (or together in combination) have been
used to FLAVOR root beer. Sasparilla is extracted from the roots
of Aralia nudicaulis, a perennial. Sassafras is extracted from the
roots of Sassafras officinale or Sassafras albidum, both of which
are trees.

Sarsaparilla, sasparilla, and sassafras are all toxic in
significant quantities. Thus, care should be taken in how strong
you make your root beer and how much you drink in a day.

Producers of illegal drugs use safrole and isosafrole, derived from
the oil of sassafras root bark, as a precursor in the manufacture
of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (known as MDMA, ecstasy, XTC, and
Adam). The use of sassafras as a flavoring was banned by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration in 1960 after safrole was found to be
hepatocarcinogenic (liver-cancer-causing) in the rat.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at URL:http://www.rossde.com/garden/