Smilax herbacea

Smilax herbacea, the smooth carrionflower or smooth herbaceous greenbrier, is a plant in the catbriar family. It is native to eastern Canada (Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick) and the eastern United States (as far south as Georgia and Alabama). Its preferred natural habitat is rich forests, and riparian thicket and meadows.

Description
Smilax herbacea is a vine with alternate, simple leaves, on climbing stems. The flowers are green, borne in spring. The plant looks like asparagus when it first sprouts out of the ground. The plant can grow over 8 feet tall without support, but will eventually fall over unless it successfully finds external support.



Food
The species can be used as food when prepared in the same fashion as Smilax bona-nox and Smilax rotundifolia.

Ethnobotany
In traditional Ainu medicine, applications of the softened leaves were used for healing eye infections, skin eruptions, and wounds.