Carrion Flower, Smilax herbacea, Minnesota native wild flowers of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Carrion Flower	Smilax herbacea L.	Catbrier (Smilacaceae)	Woodland	Spring
Other names and notes	(Smooth Carrionflower). This is an annual vine that can climb to 7 feet tall. Tendrils form from the leaf axils, stems have no prickles. The 6-part flowers are minute, greenish-yellow and appear in a large number on a ball-like umbrel that is about 1 and 1 /2" wide that forms at the end of a stalk that is much longer that the leaf stalks. The leaves are oval with parallel veins and taper to a pointed tip. The undersides are smooth. In Autumn a round fruit cluster is formed of blue-black berries.


Above: Detail of the flower umbels. Photo ©David G. Smith, Delaware Wildflowers		Above: Note the tall stalks of the flower umbels. Photo ©Janice Stiefel, Freckmann Herbarium, University of Wisconsin, Steven’s Point
Below: The mature fruit cluster and the detail of the leaf. Photo courtesy Linda Cody, Friends of the Wild Flower Garden.

Notes: Martha Crone, in her 1951 Garden plant census listed as present S. ecirrhata, the Upright Carrion Flower, which is a similar but smaller plant than the species listed in the current Garden census. Both plants are native. The current plant is found in the majority of counties with the exceptions widely scattered. It is native to the entire eastern half of the United States and Canada. Lore: In her study of the plants used by the Minnesota Chippewa, Densmore reports on the use of this plant: First, a decoction of the root with other roots added was used for digestive problems; second, a decoction of the root by itself was used for urinary problems and for pain in the back (kidneys). The Chippewa name for this plants translates as "bear root". Medicine men would always carry the root of this plant in a bag made of bear paws.

Return to -- Site Plan/Archive --or-- List of Common Plant Names -- or -- List of Scientific Names -- or --Home Page

References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

122010