SMILACE.^— SMILAX FAMILY 



UPRIGHT SMILAX 



Smilax ecirrhdta 



An ancient Greek name. 



An herbaceous Smilax, in open woods and thickets; of 

 western and southern range. Found in northern Ohio. 

 May. 



Rootstock. — Large, tuberous. 



Stem. — Annual, smooth, simple, erect, one to two feet 

 high, unarmed. 



Leaves. — Alternate, several-nerved, often grouped at 

 the summit of a stem, ovate, rounded or cordate at base, 

 more or less pubescent beneath; lower leaves reduced to 

 scales; tendrils usually in the axils of the upper leaves. 



Flowers. — Dioecious, yellowish green; borne in many- 

 flowered umbels in the axils of the leaves or scales. Stam- 

 inate flowers without an ovary and with four to six 

 stamens. Pistillate flowers often a httle smaller than the 

 staminate with a few aborted stamens and a three-celled 

 ovary. The perianth is six-cleft. 



Fruit. — A bluish black berry the size of a pea. 



The woods and thickets of the north are full of the 

 vines of the Greenbriers, woody climbers, which make 

 their way upward from the dense lower growth to the 

 light and air of the lower tree tops by means of coiling 

 tendrils, developed from the petioles which seize and 

 hold, so enabling the plants to climb upward inch by 



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