Smilax pumila
Sarsaparilla Vine
Dwarf Smilax
Florida native
This is a common trailing vine found mostly in mesic and xeric hammocks, but also in pine flatwoods and sandhills throughout much of the central and north peninsula and the panhandle. The range extends through the southeastern coastal states from Texas into South Carolina plus Arkansas.
This greenbriar is low-growing with a sometimes woody vine and long functional tendrils. The simple evergreen leaves are alternate, on stout petioles up to 2.5cm (~1 in.) long, but usually much shorter. Leaves are ovate with a heart-shaped base, three-nerved and green on top with paler and pubescent undersides. The small flowers are in umbels, growing from the leaf axils on puduncles shorter than the petiole of the subtending leaf. Individual flowers are yellowish-white, on thin pedicels 1-4mm (1/16-1/8 in.) long, the tepals 3-4mm (~ 1/8 in.) long. The fruit is a red oval berry 5-8mm (~ 3/16-5/16 in.) long with an acute tip.
Smilax pumila is a member of the Smilacaceae - Catbrier family.
Other species of the Smilax genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Smilax auriculata - EARLEAF GREENBRIER
Smilax bona-nox - SAW GREENBRIER
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Dec 06, 2018