Smilax tamnoides |
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bristly greenbrier, China root, hellfetter |
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Stems | perennial, climbing, branching, terete, to 7+ m × 9 mm, woody, glabrous, with prickles proximally, prickles usually absent distally; prickles blackish, unequal, 3–10+ mm, bristly, flexible. |
Leaves | ± persistent in southern part of range, deciduous in north; petiole 1–2 cm; blade green, drying to light olive-gray, ovate-lanceolate, ovate, or sometimes pandurate, prominently reticulate, thin, 5–13 × 3–10 cm, not glaucous, glabrous (to prickly on major veins abaxially), base rounded to cordate, margins entire apically, minutely serrulate basally, thin, flat, not banded, not lobed, apex pointed. |
Umbels | many, axillary to leaves, to 25-flowered, open to dense, spherical; peduncle often drooping, 1.5–6.5 cm. |
Flowers | perianth green to bronze; tepals 4–5 mm; anthers ± equaling to shorter than filaments; ovule 1 per locule; pedicel 0.4–1.2 cm. |
Berries | black, globose, 6–10 mm, not glaucous. |
Vines | ; rhizomes knotty, short. |
Smilax tamnoides |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Wet to dry woods, thickets, bottomlands |
Elevation | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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Discussion | Smilax tamnoides is marked by its dark, flexible, and unequal bristles and leaves with minutely serrulate margins basally. The far-western S. californica appears to be closely related but lacks the serrulate margins of the leaf bases. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 477. |
Parent taxa | Smilacaceae > Smilax |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | S. grandifolia, S. hispida, S. hispida var. australis, S. hispida var. montana, S. tamnoides var. hispida |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1030. (1753) |
Web links |