Common Greenbrier, Smilax rotundifolia
Smilacaceae or Greenbrier Family
(formerly in the Liliaceae, or Lily Family)
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A high-climbing vine, using tendrils from the bases on the leaf stalks. Stems green, with many stout thorns. Leaves not opposite each other, heart-shaped or egg-shaped, 2 to 5 inches, toothless, and with veins that are parallel. Leaves may be partially evergreen. Flowers tiny, green with six petals, often unnoticed, in the early summer. Fruit a berry, ripening blue-black. A common native woodland vine, sometimes forming nearly impenetrable thickets. Other common names reflect it's vicious side: hellfetter, blasphemy vine or tramp's troubles. Occasional throughout the Park.
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| Easily distinguished from vines that are not greenbriers by the parallel leaf veins and the thorns. Wild yam and carrion flower are vines with similar leaves, but are non-woody and lack thorns. Bristly greenbrier (S. tamnoides) is similar, but has many weak bristly thorns. It is less common in the Park. |  |