Herbs. Stems annual, erect to leaning, with bladeless bracts proximally, leaves distally, 0.3-0.8 m, herbaceous; prickles absent. Leaves mostly distal (upper 1/2-2/3 of plant); petiole thin, shorter than blade; tendrils few and short or absent; blade thin, broadly elliptic-ovate to subrotund, 9-12 × 5-9 cm, pubescent and not glaucous abaxially, base cordate to truncate, margins entire, convex, apex round to acuminate. Umbels 1-3, proximalmost axillary to bracts below leaves, to 25-flowered, hemispherical to globose. Flowers: perianth green; tepals 3.5-4 mm; anthers ± equaling filaments; ovules (1-)2 per locule; pedicel 0.5-1.3 cm. Berries purplish black, globose, 9-11 mm, not glaucous. 2n = 52. Flowering May--Jun. Open woods and thickets; 100--800 m; Ont.; Ark., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Mich., Minn., Mo., Nebr., Ohio, Okla., S.Dak., Tenn., Wis. Smilax ecirrhata is similar to S. huberi and S. biltmoreana, both with fewer leaves of different shapes.
Perennial herb 30 cm - 0.8 m tall Stem: erect to leaning, unbranched, lacking prickles, with leaves on the upper half to two-thirds of the stem and lance-linear bracts near the base. Leaves: alternate, usually with fewer than twenty crowded on upper part of the stem, thin-stalked, 9 - 12 cm long, 5 - 9 cm wide, narrow to broad egg-shaped with a heart-shaped to squared or rounded base and a rounded tip sometimes having an abrupt point (cusp), margins convex, minutely hairy and pale beneath when young. Flowers: either male or female, found on separate plants (dioecious), borne on an inflorescence with branches radiating from a common point (umbel). The few inflorescences are usually borne axillary to the bracts, each being 5 - 10 cm across, hemispherical to spherical, and having up to 25 flowers with six green tepals 3.5 - 5 mm long. Fruit: a purplish black berry, 9 - 11 mm across, spherical, with three to five seeds. Tendrils: absent or few in upper leaf axils.
Similar species: Smilax ecirrhata, Smilax illinoensis, Smilax herbacea, Smilax lasioneura, and Smilax pulverulenta are herbs without prickles. Smilax herbacea, S. lasioneura, and S. pulverulenta climb to more than 1 m and have many tendrils and umbels. Smilax illinoensis differs by typically having narrower leaves and ten- to 50-flowered umbels that are axillary to the bracts or leaves.
Flowering: late April to late May
Habitat and ecology: Frequent in rich woods.
Occurence in the Chicago region: native
Etymology: Smilax is the ancient Greek name of an evergreen oak. Ecirrhata means "without tendrils."
Herbaceous, unarmed, ±erect, unbranched, to 8 dm, without tendrils, or producing a few from the upper lvs only; lvs few, mostly less than 20, often only 7-9, ±crowded on the upper part of the stem only, narrowly to broadly ovate, truncate to cordate at base, convexly narrowed to a short cusp, hairy beneath; peduncles axillary to lance-linear bracts on the lfless lower part of the stem, or rarely also from the axil of the lowest lf, ascending, 5-10 cm, with few (seldom more than 25) fls; tep 3.5-5 mm; seeds 3-5; 2n=26. Rich woods and thickets; Mich. to Minn., s. to Ky., Mo., and e. Okla. May.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.