FAMILY: SMILACACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME:
LEAVES: deltoid to fiddle-shaped leaves; thick; often blotchy white spots; 1.5-4.5 inches long, 1-3 inches wide; 7 veins; margins and main veins usually spined; margins thickened. May appear very similar to Smilax rotundifolia (common greenbrier); check for minute spines on midrib and thickened margins
FLOWER: April to June; small, inconspicuous
axillary peduncles; peduncle usually longer than petioles
FRUIT: black berry, pulpy, single seed,
0.25 inch; mature October to November; 1-seeded
TWIGS:
BARK:
FORM: low-growing vine, may form low thickets;
spines at nodes and along internodes
HABITAT: abundant and widely distributed
throughout Louisiana in all areas except marshlands; common
in cut-over habitats
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: southeast US
USES: applies to the genus: important deer,
cattle, and rabbit browse; stems are 5-10% of deer diet; wood
ducks, turkey, song birds eat berries
Best Recognition Features:
- often with fiddle-shaped blotchy leaves
- spines along leaf veins and margins
- low-growing Smilax vine
COMMENTS: This is a difficult genus, with
at least 8 species in Louisiana, and 15 to 20 in the southeast,
21 to 24 in US
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