Family

Smilax.

Colour

Greenish white.

Odour

Scentless.

Range

New England to Florida.

Time of Bloom

April-June.

Flowers: small; imperfect; growing in umbels. Perianth . of six divisions.

Staminate blossoms with six stamens; pistillate ones with three diverging stigmas and a three-celled ovary. Leaves: alternate; on petioles, roundish; pointed. Stem: four-angled; prickly.

The catbrier is a very near relative of S. herbacea, page 100, with infinitely better manners, as it does not taint the lovely spring days with a disagreeable odour. Its sharp prickles, however, are very vicious and by far too much in sympathy with barbed-wire fences to allow of the plant ever being a great favourite. Its dark berries and many-tinted leaves are most beautiful in the autumn.