Flora of North America species comparison

perennial, prostrate to clambering, branching, slender, to 1 m, ± woody, densely woolly-pubescent, usually prickly (especially at base).

perennial, climbing, branching, ± woody, glabrous, ± unarmed, to stunted, rigid (shrublike), densely armed;

prickles pale green with dark tips, recurved, flattened, stout, 1–2 mm;

stems (especially in nodal areas) with small, waxlike nodules often connected by arachnoid filaments.

mostly evergreen, ± evenly disposed;

petiole 0.05–0.25 cm, often longer on sterile shoots;

blade gray-green, drying to ashy gray-green, obovate to ovate-lanceolate, with 3 prominent veins, 6–10.5 × 5–8 cm, glabrous adaxially, densely puberulent abaxially, base cordate to deeply notched, margins entire, apex bluntly pointed.

evergreen, ± evenly disposed;

petiole 0.5–2 cm;

blade variable, dull green, thick, narrowly oblong-elliptic, elliptic-ovate, or oval, conspicuously veined, 2–19 × 0.6–13.5 cm, not glaucous or pubescent, base pointed to rounded to narrowly cordate, margins spinose, or sometimes entire with thick edges, apex abruptly mucronate, spiny, or emarginate.

1–7, axillary to leaves, 5–16-flowered, loose, spherical;

peduncle 0.2–0.8 cm, shorter than to 1.5 as long as petiole of subtending leaf.

few to numerous, axillary to leaves, few to numerous-flowered, ± open;

peduncle to 1.6 cm, ± equaling or shorter than subtending petiole.

perianth yellowish;

tepals 3–4 mm;

anthers much shorter than filaments;

ovule 1 per locule;

pedicel thin, 0.1–0.4 cm.

perianth green;

tepals ca. 1.5 mm;

ovule 1 per locule.

red, ovoid, 5–8 mm, with acute beaks, not glaucous.

purplish black, globose, sometimes pointed, ca. 6 mm, not glaucous.

;

rhizomes short.