Figure 12.—Bamboo greenbrier (Smilax pseudo-china)

Other Common Names

Bamboo brier, long-stalked greenbrier, American chinaroot, false chinaroot, bullbrier.

Habitat And Range

This plant occurs in dry, sandy thickets from New Jersey to Florida and west to Texas and Nebraska.

Description

Bamboo greenbrier is a smooth vine with a tuberous rootstock and with the lower part of the stem smooth or sometimes beset with straight, needle-shaped prickles. The leaves, 2 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches wide, are egg-shaped or sometimes narrowed at the middle, usually rough on the margin, and somewhat leathery when old. The greenish flowers, 12 to 40 in number, are borne in round clusters on flattened stalks 1 to 3 inches long. These are followed in autumn by one to three seeded black berries up to one-quarter inch in diameter.

Part Used

The root.