Woody vine, climbing by means of tendrils, with many weak prickles along stem. Leaves heart-shaped, with strongly marked veins, untoothed. Flowers are yellowish-green with 6 tepals (the word for sepals and petals when they look alike). Male and female on different plants. Fruits are dark blue to black berries. Blooms in early summer; however, flowers and fruits are rarely seen in Wildwood.

A prickly native, not pleasant to tangle with. Occasional in the woodlands throughout the Park, but rarer than common greenbrier.

Common greenbrier (S. rotundifolia) has very similar leaves, but stout thorns in place of weak prickles. Wild yam and carrion flower are also vines with similar leaves, but are non-woody and lack thorns.