732 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the latter, and nearly all the former dying down to the 

 ground. In this great area we have no wild flowers out- 

 of-doors to study ; but, on the other hand, when we go 

 botanizing afield, we meet with no end of other material 

 in this line for our consideration, and samples of all I 

 have in mind of this should be carefully collected and 

 taken home for study during the long winter evenings, 

 when all the plants in the great open are asleep. Special 

 attention should be 

 devoted to the 

 various ways in 

 which the plants 

 " go to seed," and 

 their seeds and 

 seed receptacles 

 should receive our 

 particular a 1 1 en- 

 tion. Several illus- 

 trations of this 

 will be dwelt upon 

 in the present con- 

 tribution, and there 

 is, in part, no bet- 

 ter example of 

 what is to be 

 brought out on this 

 subject than what 

 is seen in our 

 " Common Green 

 Brier " or Siiiila.v. 

 This plant is not 

 only known and at 

 once recognized by 

 us. but it also is, 

 in the parts of the 

 country where it 

 flourishes, likewise 

 familiar to nearly 

 every boy and girl. 

 They know its 

 shiny leaves well, 

 and it is often 

 called the " Bread 

 and Butter Vine." 

 Children have a 

 habit of chewing 

 the leaves when 

 these first come out 

 in the spring, and 

 we all know of the 

 strong, wiry nature 

 of the vine, and the 

 many sharp thorns 

 it possesses, which 

 so often impede 

 our progress as we 

 have occasion to go 

 quickly through the 

 woods, or any- 

 where where this 



THE COMMON GREEN BRIER 



Fig. 1. — This very well represents a specimen as it appears when its seeds are first matured. It is 

 the Smilax rotundifolia of the genus Sinilax, which belongs to the Lily family or Liliacecs. It ranges 

 from Nova-Scotia to Georgia, westward to Minnesota, and southward to Texas. It is subject to marked 

 .variation, but generally occurs in moist thickets. Scattered thorns or prickles arm its 4-angular branch- 

 lets, especially in western examples. 



troublesome vine grows at all luxuriantly. Its beautiful 

 little greenish flowers appear quite early in the spring, and 

 are pretty well-known to good observers ; next spring I 

 trust to make them still better known. With the berries 

 and seeds it is quite different, for comparatively few 

 people go into the woods and fields when the berries are 

 ripe, and when the leaves have fallen from this vine, leav- 

 ing only the berries in evidence and the thorns. It is at 



this stage that the 

 growth is quite un- 

 known to many — 

 a fact I have con- 

 vinced myself of 

 through actual in- 

 terrogation. 



Now the Smilax 

 family is a more 

 extensive one than 

 is commonly sup- 

 posed ; for as the 

 Smilacecc, as the 

 botanists give it to 

 us, we find that no 

 fewer than eleven 

 species of this vine 

 are described, with 

 at least two varie- 

 ties of two of the 

 species. They are 

 generally arrayed 

 in two groups, and 

 for our purpose 

 here only a good 

 representative of 

 each group will be 

 referred to. The 

 c o 111 111 o n green 

 brier, or horse 

 brier, mentioned 

 above is shown in 

 Figure 1, while the 

 one known under 

 the not very attrac- 

 tive name of "Car- 

 rion Flower " is 

 shown in Figure 2. 

 Both of these were 

 collected near 

 Washington, D. C, 

 late in October, 

 Sometimes, as you 

 go into the fields, 

 or along the edge 

 of the woods, you 

 can recognize the 

 c o m m o n green 

 brier as far as you 

 can see it ; for, as 

 in the case of all 

 vines of this group 



