LILIACEAE • 33 



the denticulations are more or less colored. There are 5 to 9 

 nerves per leaf, 3 of which unite at the apex. The petioles are 

 round, 14 to 1 inch long, and shorter than the peduncles. 



Flowers occur in umbels arising from leaf axils. The pistillate 

 flowers are distinctly smaller than, and about twice as numer- 

 ous as, the staminate, and 3 to 10 in each umbel mature in Oc- 

 tober or November into black, faintly bloomy berries about 14 

 inch in diameter, each with light mahogany-red seeds. 



Distribution. — The Fringed Greenbrier ranges from New 

 Jersey, Virginia and Florida westward to Illinois, Missouri, 

 Kansas and Texas. In Illinois, it is found only in the extreme 

 southern part of the state, along the Ohio River. 



SMILAX HISPIDA Muhlenberg 

 Greenbrier Hispid Greenbrier 



The Greenbrier, fig. 3, is a long, climbing vine, with stems 

 coarser than the other Smilax species and with straightish, leafy 

 branches. Near the base the stem is nearly 1/ inch in diameter, 

 smooth and somewhat striate. Above it is round or nearly so 

 and is rather densely set both on the nodes and in the inter- 

 nodes with bristle-like, very thick spines up to Yi inch long. The 

 branches are generally round, less often a little angled or 4- 

 sidcd, and rarely spiny. The leaves are generally ovate but vary 

 from orbicular to lanceolate. They may be 6 or 7 inches long by 

 5 or 6 inches wide but usually are 3 by 2i/^ inches. The blades 

 are thin, dark green above and below, acute or cuspidate at the 

 apex, narrowed to broadly cordate at the base, with erose or 

 denticulate margins and 5, 7 or 9 nerves, 5 of which unite at 

 the apex. The petioles are about one-third inch long and only 

 one-third to one-half as long as the peduncles. 



The flowers occur in axillary umbels, the pistillate having 20 

 to 40 flowers each, the staminate 10 to 25 flowers. In the pis- 

 tillate umbels, 10 to 12 flowers mature in October or November 

 into globose, black, bloomless berries about Ya i^ich in diameter, 

 each containing 1 or, less often, 2 mahogany-red seeds. 



Distribution. — The Greenbrier ranges from Connecticut 

 westward into Ontario and Minnesota and southward into 

 Virginia, Tennessee, Kansas and Texas. It occurs throughout 

 Illinois, preferring the rich moist soils of woods and stream 

 banks but growing also in the poorest soils. 



