Tag Archives: smilax

Smilax root 2026-08-05

Re-opening the old woods road after Hurricane Helene, many Smilax roots turned up.

[Gretchen with a big Smilax root]
Gretchen with a big Smilax root

There are about six Georgia species of Smilax, known variously as Catbrier, Greenbrier, Saw Greenbrier, Lanceleaf Greenbrier, Roundleaf Greenbrier, etc. You can see a theme: viny briers.

Underground they have extensive roots, including these large nodules. I don’t know which species this one is.

You can prepare Smilax roots as a starchy food, as native Americans did. That’s a lot of work. Continue reading →

Dropped oak tree on tractor shed roof 2024-11-27

Oops. That oak tree insisted on going south when I cut it down. It made a big dent in the tractor shed roof.

[Roof damage]
Roof damage

It broke off the end of one roof truss. But the main truss and the plate it is sitting on are undamaged. So it’s fixable, and not so bad meanwhile. Continue reading →

Vines 2023-01-16

Maybe I should have trimmed some more vines before backing in there.

[Vines and privet]
Vines and privet

I had sawed off that privet. It was supposed to push to the side when I backed the tractor with mower in.

Instead, the grapevines and Smilax decided that invasive exotic Chinese privet would go up on top of the tractor canopy.

Probably I would have noticed earlier, but I was concentrating on not backing into a tree and not getting caught around the throat by catbriars. You know those Smilax with the stout sharp thorns and thick stems: Smilax bona-nox.

Note to self: next time take a machete. Cutting each vine with clippers took a while.

-jsq

Passion Flower

Gretchen with a very long passion flower vine with a flower on top of a large outcrop of smilax vine. This is the sweet smelling smilax, which I think is Smilax smallii, aka lancleaf greenbrier.

Gretchen with passion flower on top of smilax vine

The passion flower vine has a fruit, maybe where wildlife won’t eat it. Continue reading →