122 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. XIII, No. 6, 



Smilaceae. Smilax Family. 



Mostly vines with woody or herbaceous often prickly stems. 

 Leaves alternate, netted- veined, several nerved, petiolcd; petioles 

 sheathing, bearing tendrils, persistent after the fall of the leaf; 

 flowers small, greenish, diecious, in umbels in the axils of the 

 leaves; perianth of 6 segments; stamens 6; ovulary trilocular; style 

 short or none; fruit a berry; seeds 1-6 with much endosperm; 

 embryo small. 



Smilax L. Smilax. 



Usually twining or climbing herbs with tendrils from the 

 petioles. Lower leaves reduced to scales; flowers actinomorphic ; 

 perianth segments distinct, deciduous, the carpellate flowers with 

 vestigial stamens; berry black, red or purple or rarely white. 



1. Aerial stems herbaceous, dying down each year, flowers carrion-scented, 

 berries blue-black with a bloom. 2. 



1. Aerial stem woody, often prickly. 4. 



2. Plants erect, mostly without tendrils. 5. ecirrhata. 



2. Plants, with tendrils, climbing, without prickles. 3. 



3. Leaves smooth on both sides, peduncles very long. 5. herhacea. 



3. Leaves sparingly to densely puberulent on the veins beneath. 



S. pulverulenta. 



4. Leaves green, not glaucous. 5. 



4. Leaves very glaucous; peduncles, 3^-1 in. long, usually not much longer 



than the petioles. S. glaiica. 



5. Peduncle about 2 in. long, leaves usually 7-9 nerved. 5. pseudo-china. 

 5. Peduncle \-}/2 in. long, leaves usually 7-nerved. 5. hispida. 



5. Peduncle usually less than 3^ in. long, about as long as the petiole, leaves 

 usually 5-nerved. 5. rotundifolia. 



\. Smilax ecirrhata (Engl.) Wats. Upright Smilax. A 

 glabrous, erect herb with the leaves often whorled at the top. 

 Leaves ovate, rounded or cordate at the base, 5-9 nerved, some- 

 what pubescent beneath. In dry soil. Erie, Wood, Preble, 

 Warren, Clinton, Brown, Fairfield, Hardin. 



2. Smilax herbacea L. Common Carrion-flower. An un- 

 anned, glabrous herb more or less climbing. Leaves ovate, 

 rounded or lanceolate, acute or acuminate at the apex, obtuse or 

 cordate at the base, 7-9-ncrved; peduncles 6-10 times as long as 

 the petiole, flattened, inflorescence a many-flowered mnbel; 

 flowers carrion-scented; fruit a blue-black berry. In woods or 

 thickets. General. 



3. Smilax pulverulenta Mx. Pubescent Carrion-flower. Similar 

 to the preceding except that the undersides of the leaves are 

 pubescent, especially on the veins. Williams, Fulton, Ottawa, 

 Erie, vSeneca, Cuyahoga, Hardin, Auglaize, Fayette, Mont- 

 gomery. 



