0535 



GREEN BRIER 



Family: ASPARAGUS FAMILY. [Translator's note: now Liliaceae family] 

 Reproductive system: DlOECY, HEXANDRY. 



The Provence green brier, Smilax aspera, Linn., is a climbing plant with a slender, 

 crooked stem covered with thin, yellowish thorns. The leaves are alternate, oblong, heart- 

 shaped, with spines on the margins as well as on the posterior veins. At the base of the 

 petioles, which are fairly long, there are small yellowish tendrils that the plant uses to 

 attach to trees and to nearby plants. The male and female flowers are on different 

 individuals. The calyx has six sections. The male flowers have six stamens; the female 

 ones have an ovary crowned with three styles that turns into a rounded berry with two or 

 three compartments. The flowers are at the ends of the stems. 



FLOWERS: in July. The fruit ripens the following May. 



RANGE: I've found this plant with a woody stem on old walls in the vicinity of 

 Grasse. 



NOMENCLATURE. Smilax comes from a Greek word meaning to scratch because 

 the whole plant bristles with thorns. German, stechwinde. English, rough bindweed. 

 Italian, rovo cervino. Spanish, esmilace. Proven?al, gros-grame. 



The Mauritania green brier, Smilax mauritanica, Desf., is a plant with a woody 

 stem that climbs on trees. The stems are prickly. The leaves are heart-shaped with three 

 noticeable veins and with spines on the margins. The flowers are at the ends of the stems 

 and are larger than those of the previous species. 



FLOWERS: in July and August. 



RANGE: Corsica, the Isles d'Hyeres and the Barbary Coast. 



USES. These two plants are only able to add variety 



