Smilax walteri

Vines; rhizomes slender, running. Stems perennial, climbing to clambering, branching, slender, 2-6 m, woody, glabrous; prickles scattered, subulate. Leaves deciduous to semievergreen; petiole 0.5-1 cm; blade abaxially green, drying to lightly orange-tinted brown, ovate-oblong, to ovate-lanceolate, with 3 prominent veins, thin, 6-10 × 3-7 cm, glabrous or minutely pubescent abaxially, not glaucous, base rounded, subcordate, or, sometimes, cuneate at petiole insertion, margins entire, apex acute, mucronate. Umbels few to many, axillary to leaves, few-flowered, loose, hemispherical; peduncle 0.5-2 cm, generally shorter than petiole of subtending leaf. Flowers: perianth brownish yellow; tepals 3-6 mm; ovule 1 per locule; pedicel 0.5-1 cm. Berries bright red to orange, globose, 7-9 mm, shining.

Flowering Apr--Jun. Wet thickets, low pinelands, swamps, boggy areas; 0--350 m; Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., La., Md., Miss., N.C., S.C., Tex., Va.

The brightly colored fruits make Smilax walteri conspicuous in the winter.

Slender woody vine, unarmed except for a few small, flat, slightly recurved prickles at base; lvs deciduous, firm, shining above, ovate or triangular-ovate or lance-triangular, 7-12 cm, acute or obtuse, entire, 3- or 5-nerved, prominently reticulate; peduncles flattened, about equaling the subtending petioles; staminate tep 6 mm, broadly recurved; frs red, few in a cluster, 7-9 mm, 1-3- seeded; 2n=32. Swamps and wet woods; Md. to n. Fla., w. to La. May.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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