Smilax - Smilax Sect. Nemexia, Sarsaparilla, Smilax Rotundifolia, Smilax Glyciphylla, Smilax Australis, Smilax Californica, Smilax Aspera (Paperback)

Chapters: Smilax Sect. Nemexia, Sarsaparilla, Smilax Rotundifolia, Smilax Glyciphylla, Smilax Australis, Smilax Californica, Smilax Aspera, Smilax Herbacea. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 35. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Some 300-350, see text Smilax is a genus of about 300-350 species, found in temperate zones, tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found (39 of which are endemic), while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family Smilacaceae, native throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. Common names include catbriers, greenbriers, prickly-ivys and smilaxes. "Sarsaparilla" (also zarzaparrilla, sarsparilla) is a name used specifically for the Jamaican S. regelii 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 Krokus and the nymph Smilax. 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. (Compare the story of Barbara Allen and sweet William: They buried Barbara in the old church yard / They buried Sweet William beside her / Out of his grave grew a red, red rose / And out of hers a briar.) A typical Smilax sp. leaf Young Smilax growth in wintertimeOn 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 hoo...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=16980