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 rotundijolia L., 

 has a hard, more or less angular stem otten ot great length, bearing 

 numerous moderately stout prickles. The alternate 5-nerved leaves 

 are ';}f-(i inches long and nearly round, varying to ovate or lanceolate 

 on young shoots. The peduncle, i 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. 



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