LILIACEAE LILY FAMILY 
CARRION FLOWER 
Smilax herbacea L. 
It is a curious fact that some odors which are very un- 
pleasant to the human sense of smell are most attractive 
to certain flies. Thus carrion flies, drawn to this species 
by its disagreeable odor, 
pollinate it and give to it 
their name. 
This plant grows in 
woods and thickets from 
New Brunswick to Mani- 
toba, south to Florida, 
Louisiana and Oklahoma. 
It is perennial by numerous 
short thick tubers. The 
smooth, usually branched 
stem is 3-15 feet high and 
climbing by means of ten- 
drils. The smooth, 7-9- 
nerved leaves are ovate or 
rounded, mostly heart 
shaped at the base and ter- 
minating acutely to short- 
acuminately. 
The peduncles are 4-9 
inches long and the umbels 
are 15-80-flowered. There 
are 6 separate greenish white segments in the perianth, and the 
flowers are dioecious. The fruits are bluish black 2-4-seeded 
berries. 
The Shining Green Brier or Horse Brier, Smilax rotundifolia L., 
has a hard, more or less angular stem often of great length, bearing 
numerous moderately stout prickles. The alternate 5-nerved leaves 
are 3-6 inches long and nearly round, varying to ovate or lanceolate 
on young shoots. The peduncle, 1 inch long or less, is slightly 
flattened and bears 6-25 green flowers the perianth segments of which 
are hairy tipped. The berries are black, one-quarter inch in diam- 
eter and 1-3-seeded. This species grows in moist thickets and is 
especially abundant in southern Illinois. It ranges from Nova 
Scotia to Minnesota and south to Georgia and Texas. 
63 
