Smilax

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For another plant sometimes called smilax, see Asparagus asparagoides.

Smilax
Mediterranean smilax (S. aspera) in fruit
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Smilacaceae
Genus: Smilax
L.
Type species
Smilax aspera
L.
Species

About 300–350 (see list)

Synonyms[1]
  • Nemexia Raf.
  • Parillax Raf.
  • Aniketon Raf.
  • Dilax Raf.
  • Coprosmanthus Kunth
  • Pleiosmilax Seem.
  • Sarsaparilla Kuntze

Smilax is a genus of about 300–350

subtropics worldwide.[1] They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family Smilacaceae
, native throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Common names include catbriers, greenbriers, prickly-ivys and smilaxes. Sarsaparilla (also zarzaparrilla, sarsparilla) is a name used specifically for the Neotropical S. ornata as well as a catch-all term in particular for American species. Occasionally, the non-woody species such as the smooth herbaceous greenbrier (S. herbacea) are separated as genus Nemexia; they are commonly known by the rather ambiguous name carrion flowers.

Greenbriers get their

scientific name from the Greek myth of Crocus and the nymph Smilax.[2] Though this myth has numerous forms, it always centers around the unfulfilled and tragic love of a mortal man who is turned into a flower
, and a woodland nymph who is transformed into a brambly vine.

Description

On their own, Smilax plants will grow as shrubs, forming dense impenetrable thickets. They will also grow over trees and other plants up to 10 m high, their hooked thorns allowing them to hang onto and scramble over branches. The genus includes both deciduous and evergreen species. The leaves are heart shaped and vary from 4–30 cm long in different species.

Greenbrier is

dioecious. However, only about one in three colonies have plants of both sexes. Plants flower in May and June with white/green clustered flowers. If pollination occurs, the plant will produce a bright red to blue-black spherical berry fruit
about 5–10 mm in diameter that matures in the fall.

Taxonomy

The genus has traditionally been considered as divided into a number of

disjunction.[3]

Section Smilax includes "woody",[a] prickly vines of temperate North America, for example cat greenbrier (S. glauca) and common greenbrier (S. rotundifolia).[4] Section Nemexia includes unarmed herbaceous plants of temperate North America, for example "carrion flowers" like the smooth herbaceous greenbrier (S. herbacea).[4] Section Heterosmilax represents a previous separate genus that was found to be embedded within Smilax, and was reduced to a section within it.[3]

List of selected species

Distribution and habitat

The genus has a pantropical distribution, extending into adjacent temperate zones to north and south. 29 species are recognized in Central America and the Caribbean, while there are 20 species in North America north of Mexico.[5][6] In China, there are 80 species (39 of which are endemic).[7]

Ecology

The berry is rubbery in texture and has a large, spherical seed in the center. The fruit stays intact through winter, when birds and other animals eat them to survive. The seeds are passed unharmed in the animal's droppings. Since many Smilax colonies are single clones that have spread by rhizomes, both sexes may not be present at a site, in which case no fruit is formed.

Smilax is a very damage-tolerant plant capable of growing back from its rhizomes after being cut down or burned down by fire. This, coupled with the fact that birds and other small animals spread the seeds over large areas, makes the plants very hard to get rid of.[8] It grows best in moist woodlands with a soil pH between 5 and 6. The seeds have the greatest chance of germinating after being exposed to a freeze.

Blue admiral (Kaniska canace) caterpillar on China smilax (S. china)

Besides their berries providing an important food for birds and other animals during the winter, greenbrier plants also provide shelter for many other animals. The thorny thickets can effectively protect small animals from larger

butterflies and moths), which also often drink nectar from the flowers. Beetles too are known to consume leaves.[9]

Among the Lepidoptera utilizing Smilax are

flightless genus Thyrocopa. But particularly fond of greenbriers are certain Nymphalidae
caterpillars, for example those of:

Uses

Diosgenin is found in S. menispermoidea
American sarsaparilla (S. aristolochiifolia) from Köhler's Medicinal Plants

An extract from the roots of some species – most significantly

guīlínggāo, which makes use of its property to set certain kinds of jelly
.

The powdered roots of Jamaican sarsaparilla are known as Rad. Sarzae. Jam. in

Imad al-Din Mahmud ibn Mas‘ud Shirazi gave a detailed evaluation of the medical properties of chinaroot.[12]

Diosgenin, a steroidal sapogenin, is reported from S. menispermoidea.[13] Other active compounds reported from various greenbrier species are parillin (also sarsaparillin or smilacin), sarsapic acid, sarsapogenin and sarsaponin.[citation needed]

Due to the nectar-rich flowers, species like

honey plants
.

The common floral decoration smilax is Asparagus asparagoides.[14][15]

Gallery

Notes

  1. monocot, members of the family Smilacacea can not lay down true wood.[citation needed
    ]

References

  1. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. ^ Mifsud (2002)
  3. ^ a b Qi et al 2013.
  4. ^ a b FNAEC (2002)
  5. ^ Holmes, Walter C. (2002). "Smilax". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 26. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  6. ^ Raven & Zhengyi (2000), FNAEC (2002)
  7. ^ Chen, Xinqi; Koyama, Tetsuo. "Smilax". Flora of China. Vol. 24 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  8. ^ Lubar, Steven (2017). "Sisyphus cut smilax". Medium. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  9. ^ Nishida, K., L. Ferrufino-Acosta, & C.S. Chaboo. 2020. A new host plant family for Cassidinae s.l.: Calyptocephala attenuata (Spaeth, 1919) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Spilophorini) on Smilax (Smilacaceae) in Costa Rica. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 96(4): 263–267.
  10. ^ John F. Tooker; Peter F. Reagel & Lawrence M. Hanks (2002). "Nectar Sources of Day-Flying Lepidoptera of Central Illinois" (PDF). life.illinois.edu.
  11. ISBN 978-1-60358-286-5
    .
  12. ^ F. Speziale, 'Introduction', 9; H. Tadjbakhshi, 'Hôpitaux et médecins avicenniens en Iran à l'époque savafide', 27-28 in Fabrizio Speziale (ed.), Hospitals in Iran and India. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012
  13. ^ S.Mirunalini & Shahira (2011). "Novel Effects of Diosgenin – A Plant Derived Steroid; A Review" (PDF). PhOL - PharmacologyOnLine.
  14. ^ "smilax". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
  15. ^ smilax at yourdictionary.com

Bibliography

External links

  • Media related to Smilax at Wikimedia Commons
  • Data related to Smilax (L.) at Wikispecies
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