Smilax 



LlLIACEAE 



325 



o 50 



Map 666 



Sm'lax pulverulenta M'chx 



o 50 



Map 667 



Smilax herbacea L. 



50 



Map 668 

 Smilax herbacea 

 var. lasioneura (Hook) A. DC. 



Mature leaves glaucous beneath, of an ovate type, bluish green, cordate, subcordate 

 or truncate at the base, short-acuminate at the apex; margins not conspicu- 

 ously erose and lacking the colorless hairs or with a few short ones; fruit 

 glaucous. 

 Leaves all glabrous beneath; bracts on the stem below the leaves appressed; umbels 



of both pistillate and staminate plants generally with 25-80 flowers 



2. S. herbacea. 



Leaves more or less pubescent beneath with a mixture of short and long color- 

 less hairs; bracts on the stem below the leaves loose. 

 Umbels of pistillate and staminate plants with more than 25 flowers, usually 

 30-110 flowers, sometimes fewer on branches; leaves of an ovate type, 

 sometimes very broad and sometimes narrow, especially on branches; 

 peduncles usually from the axils of leaves but sometimes 1-3 below the 

 leaves, usually longer to many times longer than the petioles, rarely shorter; 

 plants usually tall and very large ones in exposed places often bent over, 



generally 1-3 m long 2a. S. herbacea var. lasioneura. 



Umbels of pistillate plants generally with fewer than 20 flowers; umbels of 

 staminate plants generally with fewer than 25 flowers (in counting the 

 flowers add the scars on the peduncle denoting fallen flowers); mature 

 leaves large, broadly ovate, 11-17 cm long and 9-12 cm wide, few, usually 

 4-9 to a plant, not tendril-bearing; peduncles 1 or 2 below the leaves or 

 opposite the lowest leaf, shorter than the petioles; plants of low woods, 



4-6 dm high 3. S. ecirrhata. 



Plants woody, vines, with prickles. 



Leaves glaucous beneath 4. S. glauca. 



Leaves green beneath. 



Stem more or less stellate-pubescent at least near the base; leaves mostly more 

 or less contracted near the middle; denticulations and prickles of leaf margins 



generally colored; margin of leaf thicker than the blade 5. S. Bona-nox. 



Stem glabrous; leaves not contracted near the middle (rarely leaves of a plant 

 contracted); denticulations and prickles of leaf margins generally colorless; 

 margin of leaf not thicker than the blade. 

 Prickles of stem all more or less flattened, the lower half green; peduncles gen- 

 erally shorter than the petioles; fruit more or less glaucous; seed usually 



2 or 3 6. S. rotandifolia. 



Prickles of stem round and black; peduncles longer than the petioles; fruit 

 black, not glaucous; seed usually 1 7. S. hispida. 



