Smilax lasioneuron

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Smilacaceae

Shrubs , herbs, or vines , perennial , rhizomatous . Stems erect or climbing , usually prickly, sometimes unarmed . Leaves opposite or alternate, prominently 3-veined, reticulate between veins, usually bearing tendrils , usually leathery. Inflorescences umbellate [or racemose or spicate ]. Flowers unisexual , staminate and pistillate on different plants ; tepals 6, distinct , rarely united into perianth tube ; stamens 2-3-whorled, anthers 1-locular; pistillate flowers bearing staminodes, pistil 3-carpellate; ovary 2-locular, 1-2 ovules per locule. Fruits baccate . Seeds 1-3.

Genera 4(-12), species ca. 375 (1 genus, 20 species in the flora ) : worldwide, mainly tropical to subtropical , a few temperate .

The leaves of Smilacaceae are atypical of monocotyledons in being reticulate between major veins. The family is closely related to and sometimes included in Liliaceae. It differs mainly in leaf characteristics and in being dioecious.[1]

Genus Smilax

Shrubs , vines , or herbs; rhizomes tuberous or stoloniferous , woody; roots filiform . Stems erect , sprawling or, more often, climbing , simple or branching, unarmed or armed with prickles; woody or herbaceous. Leaves deciduous or evergreen , alternate; stipules present; tendrils often present (few or rudimentary in S. hugeri and S. ecirrhata, absent in S. biltmoreana), paired , originating from petioles ; blade linear , oblong , ovate , or, sometimes, reduced to scales in herbaceous species, base sometimes lobed . Inflorescences umbellate , axillary to leaves or bracts, loose to dense, pedunculate . Flowers unisexual ; tepals 6, greenish, yellow, or bronze, ovate to elliptic ; staminate flowers sometimes with pistillode , stamens 6, anthers basifixed , dehiscence introrse ; pistillate flowers with 6 staminodes, style short or absent, stigmas 3, recurved, ligulate . Berries black, blue, purple, red, or orange. x = 13-16.

Species ca. 350: worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, with extensions into temperate areas.

The North American herbaceous species of Smilax (numbers 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15 in this treatment) traditionally have been placed in sect. Nemexia (Rafinesque) A. de Candolle. J. K . Mangaly (1968) concluded that the correct name for this group at that rank is sect. Coprosmanthus (Torrey) Bentham. The remaining North American species, all more or less woody, belong to sect. Smilax. The relatively small number of species (20) present in the flora does not warrant the elaboration of an updated subgeneric classification, which should take into account all species of the genus on a worldwide basis.

The leaves of Smilax are very unusual. A. Arber (1918, 1920) believed that the blade of Smilax is not equivalent to the lamina of a dicotyledon but is merely a pseudolamina representing an expansion of the upper region of the petiole. In this view , tendrils are also proliferations of the petiole and are not homologous to tendrils of dicotyledons. However, D. R. Kaplan (1973) remarked that unifacial monocotyledonous leaves never exhibit a lamina rudiment at the apex, and therefore there is no convincing argument that their apices are simply petiolar . He suggested that the terete leaf axis of monocotyledons is not merely an expanded petiole but is positionally equivalent to the lamina region of a dicotyledonous leaf. Smilax leaves lack an abscission layer, but the distal portion of the petiole undergoes a soft disintegration and the blade falls, leaving a rough end on the stub (W. C. Coker 1944).

Smilax has numerous uses. Sarsaparilla, a beverage and medicinal used against rheumatism, is obtained from the rhizomes of various species, mainly from Mexico and Central America. A jelly can be made from the rhizomes. The fleshy rhizomes of several vining species, most notably S. smallii, which have a texture of firm, crisp apples, were used by Native Americans and early settlers in the same manner as were potatoes, or else in making bread or mush. The young, succulent stems of several species are cooked and used as asparagus or the tender stems may be used in salads . Seeds were sometimes used as beads (Indian coral ) and a brown dye can be made from the roots of various species. Woody rhizomes were reportedly used by Native Americans and settlers in making pipes. Some species have been used in Native American (D. E. Moerman 1986) and folk medicine. All species of Smilax are excellent wildlife food and are also browsed, or the rhizomes dug and eaten, by domestic stock.[2]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Coprosmanthus Lasioneuron • Coprosmanthus lasioneuron (Hook.) Kunth • Nemexia lasioneura (Hook.) Rydb. • Smilax herbacea L. var. lasioneura (Hook.) A. Dc. • Smilax Lasioneura

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 07-Oct-1996

Similar Species

Members of the genus Smilax

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 31 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

S. aristolochiifolia (Sarsaparilla) · S. aspera (Rough Bindweed) · S. auriculata (Catbrier) · S. australis (Barbwire Vine) · S. biltmoreana (Biltmore's Carrionflower) · S. bona-nox (Cowvine Smilax Bona-Nox) · S. californica (California Greenbrier) · S. china (China Root) · S. coriacea (Everglades Greenbrier) · S. ecirrata (Carrionflower) · S. ecirrhata (Carrion Flower) · S. glauca (Cat Greenbrier) · S. glauca var. glauca (Sawbrier) · S. herbacea (Carrion Flower Vine) · S. herbacea lasioneuron (Blue Ridge Carrion-Flower) · S. hugeri (Huger's Carrionflower) · S. illinoensis (Illinois Greenbrier) · S. jamesii (English Peak Greenbrier) · S. lasioneura (Blue Ridge Carrion-Flower) · S. lasioneuron (Blue Ridge Carrion-Flower) · S. laurifolia (Bamboo Vine) · S. melastomifolia (Aka'awa) · S. pseudochina (Bamboo Vine) · S. pulverulenta (Downy Carrionflower) · S. pumila (Dwarf Smilax) · S. regelii (Jamaican Sarsaparilla) · S. renifolia (Kidneyleaf Greenbrier) · S. rotundifolia (Bull Briar) · S. smallii (Jackson Vine) · S. tamnoides (Bristly Greenbriar) · S. walteri (Coral Greenbrier)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Atlas of the rare vascular plants of Ontario / Ottawa: Botany Division, National Museum of Natural Sciences = Division de la botanique, Musée national des sciences naturelles, 1982-1987. url .
• Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 15 1888 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 189, p. 410, p. 417, p. 610, p. 689.
• Contributions from the New York Botanical Garden. New York: The Garden, 1899- url p. 417.
• Erigenia: journal of the Illinois Native Plant Society. Carbondale, Ill.: The Society, 1982- url p. 11, p. 13, p. 4.
• Flora of Colorado, Fort Collins, Col., Experiment Station, 1906. url .
• Flora of Colorado, by P. A. Rydberg, PH. D. Fort Collins, Col., Experiment Station, 1906. url p. 86.
• Flora of Colorado, by P.A. Rydberg. Fort Collins, Col., Experiment Station, 1906. url p. 86.
• Flora of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent plains, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and neighboring parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and British Columbia, by P.A. Rydberg. .. New York, The author, 1922. url p. 173.
• Gray's lessons in botany and vegetable physiology, illus. by over 360 wood engravings, from original drawings, by Isaac Sprague. To which is added a copious glossary, or dictionary of botanical terms. By Asa Gray. Chicago, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & co.[1868] url p. 463.
• Illinois River Bluffs area assessment / Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Scientific Research and Analysis, [and the] State Geological Survey Division. Springfield, Ill.: Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources, 1998- url p. 158, p. 185.
• List of Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta growing without cultivation in northeastern North America. New York, 1893-1894. url .
• Manual of the botany of the northern United States: including Virginia, Kentucky, and all east of the Mississippi / by Asa Gray; (the mosses and liverworts by Wm. S. Sullivant.) Chicago: Ivison, Phinney; 1863, c1862. url p. 463.
• Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club. 5 1893 - 18 Durham, N.C.: Published for the Club by the Seeman Printery, 1889- url p. 117.
• National list of scientific plant names. [Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 1982- url p. 387.
• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 438, p. 71.
• Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. Indianapolis, Ind.[s.n.] url p. 130, p. 283.
• Rydberg, P. A. Flora of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent plains, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and neighboring parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, and British Columbia /by P. A. Rydberg... 1917 New York: The author, 1917. url p. 173.
• Syllogeus. Ottawa, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 1972-1995. url p. 44, p. 47.
• The University of Missouri studies. [Columbia]: The University, 1905-1918. url p. 242, p. 453, p. 94.
• The flora of Boulder, Colorado, and vicinity, by Francis Potter Daniels. .. [Columbia, Mo.]The University of Missouri, 1911. url p. 305, p. 94.
• Vascular plants of the Sangamon River basin; annotated checklist and ecological summary [by] Almut G. Jones and David T. Bell. [Urbana], University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Agriculture, [1974] url p. 5.
• Arber, A. 1920. Tendrils of Smilax. Bot. Gaz. 69: 438-442.
• Coker, W. C. 1944. The woody smilaxes of the United States. J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 60: 27-69, plates 9-39.
• Duncan, W. H. 1975. Woody Vines of the Southeastern United States. Athens, Ga.
• Fernald, M. L. 1944. Overlooked species, transfers, and novelties in the flora of eastern North America. Rhodora 46: 1-28, 32-60.
• Judd, W. S. 1998. The Smilacaceae in the southeastern United States. Harvard Pap. Bot. 3: 147-169.
• Mangaly, J. K. 1968. A cytotaxonomic study of the herbaceous species of Smilax: Section Coprosmanthus. Rhodora 70: 55-82, 247-273.
• Morong, T. 1894. The Smilaceae [sic] of North and Central America. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 21: 419-448.
• Pennell, F. W. 1916b. Notes on plants of the southern United States -- II. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 43: 409-421.
• Wang Fa-tsuan & Tang Tsin, eds. 1978; 1980. Liliaceae. Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 15: 1--280; 14: 1--308.

Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 13, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 28, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 2 providers.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Herbarium
• University of Colorado Museum: Zoological specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2662895
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-43359
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:541561-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 237688-2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 448112

Footnotes

1. Walter C. Holmes "Smilacaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 468. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Smilax". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 14, 468, 469, 474, 477. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.