SMILACACEAE. 71 



minute braetlets. Filaments inserted on the bases of the perianth-segments. 

 Staminate flowers without an ovary. Pistillate flowers usually smaller than the 

 staminate, usually with 1-6 abortive stamens. Berry black, red or purple 

 (rarely white), with 3 strengthening bands of tissue running through the outer 

 part of the pulp, connected at the base and apex. Embryo lying under a 

 tubercle at the upper end of the seed. [Ancient Greek name, perhaps not 

 originally applied to these plants.] About 225 species of wide distribution, 

 most abundant in tropical America and Asia. Type species: Smilax aspera L. 



Leaves normally armed with prickels ; leaves coriaceous. 1. S. havanensis. 

 Leaves unarmed. 



Leaves chartaceous, ovate, mostly 2-lobed near the base. 2. 8. auriculata. 



Leaves coriaceous, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate. 3. 8. laurifolia. 



*r 1. Smilax havanensis Jaeq. Enum. 33. 1760. 



Smilax havanensis dentata O. E. Schulz, in Urban, Symb. Ant. 5: 40, as to 



Bahama plant, 1904. 

 Smilax havanensis ovata laevis O. E. Schulz, loc. cit. 41. 1904. 

 Smilax oblongata O. E. Schulz, loc. cit. 42, as to Bahama plant. 1904. 

 Smilax oblongata viscifolia O. E. Schulz, loc. cit. 43, at least as to Bahama 



plant. 1904. 

 Smilax populnea O..E. Schulz, loc. cit. 43, as to Bahama plant. 1904. 



Woody, climbing or trailing, armed with short hooked prickles or nearly 

 unarmed, 1-4 m. long, the branches angled, often zigzag. Leaves coriaceous, 

 oblong to ovate or suborbicular, spinulose-dentate or entire, 2-12 cm. long, 

 reticulate-veined, 3-7-nerved, obtuse, mucronate or emarginate at the apex, 

 rounded, narrowed or subcordate at the base, the petioles 10-18 mm. long, the 

 stipular sheaths about half as long as the petioles; peduncles about as long as 

 the petioles, 4-30-flowered ; pedicels about 4 mm. long; flowers 2-3 mm. broad, 

 the staminate somewhat larger than the pistillate; sepals and petals oblong; 

 berries black, subglobose or ovoid, 4-6 mm. in diameter. 



Rocky and sandy soil, throughout the archipelago from Abaco and Great 

 Bahama south to the Caicos and Inagua : Florida ; Cuba ; Hispaniola. Our held 

 observations, and specimens, show that the synonyms cited above are of no value 

 in differentiating the large number of races which constitute this species ; there 

 being a wide range in leaf-form and venation and in the relative number of prickles ; 

 also in the relative leaflness of the upper parts of the plants ; individual specimens 

 may be unarmed. Hitchcock referred a part of his specimens of this species to S. 

 domiiKjensis Willd. Prickly Greek-brier. Saw-brier. China-brier. Chaxey-vine. 



v 2. Smilax auriculata Walt. Fl. Car. 245. 1788. 



Smilax Beyrichii Kunth, Enum, PI. 5: 207. 1850. 



A glabrous vine, often 5 m. long or longer, trailing or climbing, the 

 branches angular, zigzag, bearing a few prickles or unarmed. Leaves oblong 

 to ovate, chartaceous, 2-10 cm. long, abruptly short-pointed, narrow or obtuse 

 at the base, often dilated or auricled below, shining, coarsely reticulate-veined, 

 the stout petioles 6-10 mm. long; peduncle 3-12 mm. long; pedicels several or 

 many, slender, 4-10 mm. long; flowers yellowish-green, fragrant; sepals anil 

 petals of staminate flowers nearly linear, 4-5 mm. long, those of pistillate 

 flowers oblong, about 2.5 mm. long; berries black, globose, about 5 mm. in 

 diameter. 



Coppices, scrub-lands, savannas and pine-barrens. Abaco, Great Bahama, Andros, 

 South Cat Cay, New Frovidence and Eleuthera : Georgia to Florida and Louisiana. 

 Auricled Greenbrier. China-brier. 



