Greenbrier, Carrionflower

Name:  Greenbrier…the species in this document is Smooth Carrionflower

Botanical Name: Smilax herbacea

Form: vine

Parts Used: berries, greens and browse

 

Citation: Guenther, K. (2020, January 12) Greenbrier as wildlife food [Web log post.] Retrieved: readers supply the date, from http://wildfoods4wildlife.com

Getting Started

Smilacaceae  (Greenbrier Family) 

Smilax (Greenbrier Genus)

Carrionflower is one species of greenbrier and gets its name from the flowers smelling like rotting meat, so as to attract insects— like flies— that will pollinate it. But the flowers are small and not every species of greenbrier smells bad, so you might not get a whiff of this scent unless you really seek to stick your nose right in a flower.

Greenbrier vines generally have a typical “look” about them that makes them easy to recognize, but when you get down to the details, there is a lot of variability across species. They can be evergreen, or drop their leaves, be woody-stemmed or not, have thorns or not, and have different shapes of leaves. The vines can climb singly up a tree or the vines can weave into dense thickets. Still, despite these variations, greenbriers are pretty easy to recognize.

The quantity of fruit produced varies from year to year, and never will you be able to collect a large quantity. But greenbrier is a common vine, and one of a handful of fruits available in winter. Mockingbirds and thrushes seem to have a strong preference for this fruit, but it may be more of a survival food for the many other animals that eat it. In addition to the fruit, browse and greens are also eaten. The stems are often thick—some of the thickest green vines we have that are not totally woody (like grape)— so you may need clippers to collect them.

Common name	Virginia Smilax Species	Origin	Rare Plant Status
Biltmore carrionflower	S. biltmoreana	Native	none
Saw greenbrier	S. bona-nox	Native	none
Upright carrionflower	S. ecirrhata	Native	Globally secure, critically imperiled in Virginia
Catbrier	S. glauca	Native	none
Smooth carrionflower	S. herbacea	Native	none
Blue Ridge Carrion flower	S. lasioneura	Native	yes, in some states (not Virginia)
Laurel greenbrier	S. laurifolia	Native	none
Bamboo Vine	S. pseudochina	Native	yes, in some states (not Virginia)
Downy carrionflower	S. pulverulenta	Native	yes, in some states (not Virginia)
Roundleaf greenbrier	S. rotundifoilia	Native	none
Lanceleaf greenbrier	S. smallii	Native	none
Bristly greenbrier	S. hispida	Native	none
Coral greenbrier	S. walteri	Native	none

Virginia Botanical Associates. (Accessed December 1, 2017). Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (http://www.vaplantatlas.org). c/o Virginia Botanical Associates, Blacksburg. 

USDA, NRCS. 2015. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 14 December 2017). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.

MAP  http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SMILA2

About This Species

Flower Description: Carrionflower’s flower is a golf ball size sphere of small green-white flowers with 6 tepals each—(the tepas in the picture look like what you might want to call petals. Tepal is a botanical term meaning alternating sepals and petals that look the same.) Above the tepals you see the swollen ovary of the flower and the 3-prong white thing at the top which are the 3 stigmas of the female flower. The second photo, somewhat out of focus, shows the male flower with 6 white stamens.

Leaf Description: Greenbriers grow as “monocotyledon” which tells you that when they first emerge from the ground, they put out one leaf initially (instead of 2, which is more common). But, you are frankly never likely to recognize or identify a greenbrier at this young stage.

Plants that do this are referred to as monocots and they have some key features in their leaves throughout their life. Namely, they have parallel ribs in their leaves, with parallel prominent vein patterns. The leaf shapes of greenbrier species may vary, but many have parallel ribs in their leaves, smooth edges to the leaves and are arranged alternately on the vine.

Seed/Fruit Size: Fruits are blue-black to black in color when ripe (green-black when under-ripe), 0.6mm-0.8mm in diameter with a stem (0.6mm-0.7mm long). Inside you find one or two large seeds that are bright red-orange color, 0.3mm-0.4mm in diameter. The seed can be round or it can be flattened on one side. The seed is surrounded by a thin layer of bright green pulp. Overall, though, the fruit is rather dry and not very juicy.

Harvesting

		Jan		Feb		Mar		Apr		May		Jun		Jul		Aug		Sep		Oct		Nov		Dec
		winter		winter		late winter		early spring		spring		late spring		early summer		summer		late summer		early fall		fall		late fall
greens												x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
fruit		x	x	x																	x	x	x	x	x
browse								x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

Does this lend itself as a good enrichment item?

Maybe somewhat, non-thorny species of greenbrier vine with fruits could be draped in an enclosure for natural foraging.

Harvesting Carrionflower Fruit:

Handpick fruits, being careful to avoid thorns on the vines, if there are any.

How to Store Prepared Fruit:

Commercial berry containers are great for storing fruit because the rigid plastic keeps the fruit from getting crushed and they also have small holes in them that control the humidity in the container. This slows the fruit from drying out too quickly but allows air circulation to reduce molding.

Greenbrier fruits keep well in re-used commercial berry containers in the refrigerator for at least one to two weeks and potentially longer. They store well for a few weeks even at room temperature, because they are such a dry fruit to begin with.

It is ideal to use this fruit fresh, but if you really need to freeze them you can, knowing that the quality will be compromised a little upon thawing. Spread berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place in freezer for 1 day. Once frozen, repackage them into freezer baggies (3 mils or thicker) or glass jars to keep them from drying out, remove as much air as possible from the baggie, label, and store in the freezer until needed—no more than 1 year. Again, because this is a dry fruit, it probably freezes and thaws at a better quality than most fruits.

Harvesting Carrionflower Greens:

Green leaves can be harvested at any time spring to fall, but are tastier and less fibrous when young and small in late spring. Whole young vines that are green and supple can be cut with clippers.

Storing Greens:

If you choose to, use a commercial vegetable cleaner or a ¼ cup of vinegar added to wash water as a cleaner. Submerge the plant material and swish it around to remove all dirt from leaves. Rinse in clean water. Always wash greens; you never know what might be on them…like animal feces or urine. Place in a colander or salad spinner to drain, then lay out a towel and spread the greens on the towel and roll up the towel. Unroll and transfer the damp greens to storage.

For storage, there are a couple of different possible container methods. If the greens will be used quickly within days, place the towel-rolled damp greens to a 1-gallon zip-lock baggie with 12-15 holes cut in it to provide air and keep the greens from molding (or reuse commercial grape bags with holes). Label the bag with the plant name and which animals it should be used for. Keep container in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator.  

For storage longer than one week, use a rigid, lidded, airtight container. After washing and salad spinning the greens, place a paper towel in the bottom, then loosely fill with greens, but do not pack them in. Then lay a paper towel on top and put on lid. Keep container in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. Do not use if greens become moldy, slimy or dried out.

Many greens are very sensitive to exposure to ethylene gas, though greens themselves are low emitters of the gas. You may get longer quality by adding with a product that reduces free ethylene gas in the refrigerator. Greens are good until they become dry and crispy, fade in color, or become slimy or moldy.

The term “browse” refers to twigs and bark and woodier plants but if the leaves are still on the branches, then leaves (greens) can be considered a component of browse, as well.

Harvesting Browse:

Browse as a term used on this website usually refers to the twigs and small branches, with or without leaves or needles, of vines, trees, shrubs, and other woody-stemmed plants.  Browse can also refer to bark, for animals that gnaw on bark.

Greenbriers are perennials, so it is best to cut the vines and let them regrow next year, rather than try to pull them out of the ground. For those species with thorns, wear gloves!

Place browse cuttings in a bucket of water in the shade until you can transport them. Browse cuttings are best fed to animals right away, they do not store well for more than a day before the leaves start to wilt and try out, especially if it is hot.

Other Species:

Smilax spp. have various common names including sarsaparilla, greenbrier and carrionflower. However, there is another plant commonly called wild sarsaparilla, which is a different plant altogether— Aralia nudicaulis. Interestingly and coincidentally, many of the same birds and mammals that eat wild sarsaparilla also eat greenbrier.

 

County in Virginia	Species	Alert
Rockingham	Upright carrionflower	Globally secure—common, widespread and abundant. But critically imperiled— high risk of extirpation in Virginia.
Lee	Upright carrionflower	Globally secure—common, widespread and abundant. But critically imperiled— high risk of extirpation in Virginia.

Feed Carrionflower to:

Book References:

Martin, A.C., Zim, H.S., Nelson, A.L. (1951). American Wildlife and Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits. New York: Dover Publications.

Scott, M. (2013). Songbird Diet Index. National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, St. Cloud, MN.

Online References:

Carey, Jennifer H. 1994. Smilax rotundifolia. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Science Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/databse/feis/ [2016, December 23].

Sullivan, Janet. 1994. Smilax bona-nox. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Science Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/databse/feis/ [2016, December 23].

Van Deelen, Timothy R. 1991. Smilax laurifolia. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Science Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/databse/feis/ [2016, December 23].

Virginia Botanical Associates. (Accessed December 1, 2017). Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (http://www.vaplantatlas.org). c/o Virginia Botanical Associates, Blacksburg. 

USDA, NRCS. 2015. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 14 December 2017). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.