Smilax aspera

[Juan Fornes]

  The other day I went to look for wild Smilax aspera berries. Lucky enough, there were some still standing in the plants. Also, there were some flowers so I thought maybe you could be interested in this prickly vine (although I´m afraid the most suited specie for an alpine trough...)
  A dioecious vine that can reach 15 m, Smilax aspera can make some forests impenetrable. It is distributes through south Europe, West Asia coastal mediterranean, Canary Islands and Madeira and North Africa. An extended flowering season (IV-XII) allows an also extended fruiting time (II-XII). Formerly included in Liliaceae family, now it has its own one: Smilacaceae. Male and female flowers are similar in size and shape, and fruits, red in the begining, are almost black when fully riped. Leaves have a high variation in shape, colour, spots and prickles.
  Pictures show: a) Male flowers, b) Female flower, c) Two very different plants growing together, d) Different leaves and e) Berries

[Stephenb]

Thanks for this! Interesting to see that there is a lot of variation - is this from different plants or different stages on the same plant? I've never seen the flowers before either...

My interest in it is because I'm very interested in edible plants and perennial vegetables in particular, also plants which can be grown in a woodland setting. There are various species of Smilax which have been used traditionally both in North America; Europe and Asia as a kind of asparagus (young spring shoots are used). There's a lot of new scientific literature on wild gathered edible plants in the Mediterranean countries from studies in the last 10 years (from funding driven by interest in the healthy traditional Mediterranean diet). Smilax aspera is one of the species widely used across the Mediterranean region and I now have documentation of its use both in Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. It seems that it is hardy enough to cultivate outside at least north to the UK and France as I saw good sized plants in both countries this summer. I enclose a picture of the spring shoots from Paris this summer. I think I'm more likely to succeed with North American species, but have so far not managed to germinate what seed I've managed to get hold of.

[Juan Fornes]

   Leaves are from different plants. Such differences deserved in the beginning different  subespecies named depending on leave shape and presence/abscence of prickles. Then this difference was though to be due to stress or enviroment conditions, with wide, more harmless leaves coming from darker places free from grazing or other dangers, but as you can see in the pictures, two very different kind of plants are growing together side to side, and the leaves collection was made in the same place from different plants.