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Smilax bona-nox

Botanic Family

Smilacaceae

Author

Linnaeus

Common Names

• Stretchberry
• Zarzaparrilla
• Bullbrier Greenbrier
• Common Sawbriar
• Cambridge Smilax

Geographical Habitats

• Bermuda
• Mexico
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Delaware
• District of Colombia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• N & S Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Tennesee
• Texas
• Virginia - USA

Natural Habitats

• Woodland
• thickets
• hedgerows
• floodplain forests
• streamside

Flowering Times

• Apr-May

Fruiting Times

• Jun
• Jul
• Aug Oct (Mexico)

High-climbing prickly vine with angled stems & tendrils. Mucronate leaves to 120mm long, spiny on margins & nerves beneath, sometimes 3-lobed with tendrils. Umbels with bracteoles 0.75mm, male umbels to 30 flowers, females to 20 flowers. Greenish-white flowers, sepals & petals of staminate flowers to 5mm long, pistillate flowers to 2.5mm long. Fruit black to 8mm diameter.

Further References

• Bean 1950
• Menninger 1970, Krussmann 1976
• FOA
• Mobot
• The Plant List 2
• RSNRV
• USDA
• JAA
• FOSEUS
• USNH
• SAFIO
• Kew