
Smilax rotundifolia.tendrils.© Copyright Steve Baskauf, 2002-2011.discoverlife.org (Accessed 6/2015).
Smilax is a genus of woody or herbaceous slender, climbing vines; monocotyledons, arising from a creeping rhizome; stems bearing a pair of tendrils from the base of the leaf stalk (petiole); the woody species armed with straight prickles; young stems green, stems never becoming thicker with age (as with stems of monocotyledons in general).
Leaves alternate, simple, veins arising from the top of the leaf stalk (petiole), becoming parallel and meeting again at the leaf tip; margins entire,
Flowers yellow or greenish, small, dioecious (males and females on separate plants); bilaterally symmetrical (regular), petals and sepals the same (tepals), spreading, each in a whorl of three, style very short; inflorescence of umbrella-shaped clusters or sets of clusters.
Fruit fleshy (a berry), ours dark blue to black.