462 SMILACEJE. (SMILAX FAMILY.) 



# Leaves ovate or roundish, frc., most of them roundish or heart-shaped at the base^ 



5 - 9-nerved, the three middle nerves or ribs stronger and more conspicuous. 



- Peduncles shorter or scarcely longer than the petioles : leaves thickish, inclining to 

 be evergreen, at least southward, green both sides. 



1. S. Walteii, Pursh. Branches somewhat angled, prickly or unarmed; 

 leaves ovate and somewhat heart-shaped (3' -4' long) ; berries red. (S. China, 

 Walt.) S. E. Virginia and southward. July. 



2. S. ro tu n di folia, L. (COMMON GREENBRIER.) Stem armed with 

 scattered prickles, as well as the terete branches ; branchlets more or less 4- 

 angular ; leaves ovate or round-ovate, often broader than long, slightly heart-shaped, 

 abruptly short-pointed (2' -3' long) ; berries blue-black, with a bloom. (S. cadu- 

 ca, L., is only a more deciduous and thin-leaved form.) Moist thickets ; com- 

 mon, especially southward. June. Plant yellowish-green, often high-climbing. 

 Passes into var. QUADRANGULAR is ; the branches, and especially the branch- 

 lets, 4-angular, often square. (S. quadrangularis, Muhl.) Penn. to Kentucky 

 and southward. 



- - ~ Peduncles longer than, but seldom twice the length of the petiole : leaves tardily 



deciduous or partly persistent : berries black, with a bloom. 



3. S. gla.uca., Walt. Terete branches and somewhat 4-angular branch- 

 lets armed with scattered stout prickles, or naked; leaves ovate, rarely subcor- 

 date, glaucous beneath and sometimes also above as well as the branchlets when 

 young (about 2' long), abruptly mucronate, the edges smooth and naked. (S. 

 Sarsaparilla, L., in part, but not as to syn. Bauhin, whence the name was taken. 

 S. caduca, Wittd., &c. S. spinulosa, Smith? Torr. fi.) Dry thickets, &c., S. 

 New York to Kentucky and southward. July. 



4. S. tamuoides, L. Branches and the angular (often square) branch- 

 lets sparsely armed with short rigid prickles ; leaves varying from round-heart- 

 shaped and slightly contracted above the dilated base to fiddle-shaped and hal- 

 berd-shaped -3-lobed, green and shining both sides, cuspidate-pointed, the margins 

 often somewhat bristly-ciliate or spinulose. (S. Bona-nox, L., S. hastata, Wittd., 

 S. panduratus, Pursh, &c., are all forms of this.) Thickets, New Jersey to Illi- 

 nois, and (chiefly) southward. July. 



--- Peduncles 2-4 times the length of the petiole : leaves ample (3 r - 5' long), 

 thin or thinnish, green both sides : berries black : stem terete and branchlets nearly so. 



5. S. bispida, Muhl. Kootstock cylindrical, elongated ; stem (climbing 

 high) below densely beset with long and weak blackish bristly prickles, the flowering 

 branchlets mostly naked; leaves ovate and the larger heart-shaped, pointed, 

 slightly rough-margined, membranaceous and deciduous. Moist thickets, Penn. 

 and W. New York to Michigan. June. Peduncles l' - 2' long. Sepals lan- 

 ceolate, almost 3" long. 



6. S. Pseudo-China, L. Rootstock tuberous; stems and branches un- 

 armed, or with very few weak prickles ; leaves ovate-heart-shaped, or on the 

 branchlets ovate-oblong, cuspidate-pointed, often rough-ciliate, becoming firm 

 in texture; peduncles flat (1^'- 3' long). Dry or sandy soil, New Jersey to 

 Kentucky, and southward. July. 



