Smilax

smilax, common name for a florists' plant of two separate genera (Asparagus and Smilax), both of the family Liliaceae (lily family, although some botanists recognize smilax as a separate family, the Similacaceae). The greenbriers, prickly vines often weedy in North America, belong to the same genus (Smilax) as the plants yielding sarsaparilla. Both genera are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Liliales, family Liliaceae.

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smilax

Any of about 300 species of woody or herbaceous vines, variously known as catbriers and greenbriers, that make up the genus Smilax (family Smilacaceae), native to tropical and temperate regions. The stems of many species are covered with prickles, the lower leaves are scalelike, and the leathery upper leaves have untoothed blades with three to nine large veins. White or yellow-green flowers are followed by clusters of red or bluish-black berries. Common catbrier (S. rotundifolia) and carrion flower (S. herbacea) of eastern North America are sometimes cultivated to form impenetrable thickets. See also sarsaparilla.

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Smilax 

a genus of plants of the family Liliaceae. (The genus is placed by some botanists in a separate family, the Smilax-aeae.) The plants are shrubs or, less frequently, herbs with twining or creeping stems and reticulately veined leaves with tendrils at their bases. The small, unisexual flowers are in umbellate axillary inflorescences. The fruits are one- to three-seeded berries.

There are more than 300 species, distributed in the Mediterranean region (including the Caucasus) and in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of Asia and North America. The USSR has two species: S. oldhamii, which grows in the Pri-mor’e, and S. excelsa, which grows in the Caucasus and is cultivated in the Crimea as an ornamental. The roots of some species, such as S. officinalis and S. china, contain saponins and are used in medicine.

REFERENCE

Derev’ia i kustarniki SSSR, vol. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1951.