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Photographer: Janice Stiefel
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Family Smilacaceae
Smilax herbacea L.
common carrion-flower, Jacob's-ladder, smilax
Smilax: Greek for "clasping"
herbacea: herbaceous, not woody
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| Status: | Native |
| Plant: | annual, herbaceous vine climbing to 7' tall, tendrils from almost all leaf axils, no prickles |
| Flower: | green to yellowish, 6-parted; inflorescence with 20-100 flowers in a 1 1/2" ball-like umbel from the leaf axils, the stalk 5-8 times as long as its leaf stalk; blooms May-June |
| Fruit: | dark blue, smooth berries in round clusters |
| Leaf: | more than 25, undersides smooth, parallel veins; oval, tapering to a pointed tip |
| Habitat: | moist; woods, fencerows |
| (Glossary) |
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