GREEN-BRIERS IN WINTER. 183 



County they were six and a half inches long by 

 five and three-quarter inches wide. Two of the 

 leaves from the plant seen to-day were measured 

 after returning and were found to be ten inches 

 long and nine and a half inches in width across 

 the middle, thus far outstripping all the records. 

 The leaves of this particular species are ovate, 

 seven-nerved and green on both sides, while the 

 stems are, near the base, beset with many long 

 and weak, black, bristly prickles. It climbs high 

 over the smaller trees, often forming a tangled 

 covert in their tops where birds of many kinds 

 find a safe retreat from down swooping hawks 

 by day and a secure resting place by night. 



Seven species of these green-briers are listed 

 from the State, two of which are annuals and 

 unarmed; the others perennial with woody 

 stems, bearing few or many prickles. The leaves 

 of some of them, especially of the most common 

 species 70 usually known as "catbrier," remain 

 green sometimes until midwinter. Then when 

 the sky. is leaden and all nature drear they often 

 form handsome festoons over the tops of tall and 

 otherwise leafless shrubs. The blue-black ber- 

 ries are also very attractive at that season and 

 are eaten by birds when other food is scarce, 

 the indigestible cherry-red seeds thus being scat- 

 tered far and wide. 



70 Smilax rotundifolia L. 



