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Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: sarsaparilla plant
Type: Vine
Family: Smilacaceae
Zone: 4 to 8
Native Range: Southern and central United States
Height: 20 to 40 feet
Spread: 3 to 6 feet
Bloom Time: May to June
Bloom Color: Green
Bloom Description: Greenish
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Flowers: Showy Flowers
Fruit: Showy Fruit
Other: Has Thorns
Wildlife: Attracts Birds
Tolerates: Drought
Uses: Rain Garden, Will Naturalize
Culture
Easily grown in most soils. Best in moist loams in full sun to part shade. Tolerates wet soils. This species is weedy and difficult to manage because of its bristly stems, but it does not spread invasively by rooting stems, stolons or self-seeding.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Greenbriar (also bristly greenbrier or catbrier) is the most common greenbriar found in Missouri, typically occurring in thickets, low woods, wooded slopes and stream banks in virtually every county in the state (Steyermark). It is a deciduous, twining, woody vine that grows to 20-40’. It will climb by tendrils or ramble along the ground, often forming dense, impenetrable, shrubby thickets in the wild. Plants are dioecious: greenish flowers appear in axillary clusters on separate male and female plants. Flowers bloom in May-June. Fertilized female flowers give way to blue-black, glaucous berries that ripen in late summer to fall. Fruits are attractive to many birds. Broad, ovate-rounded, green leaves (2-5” long) are sometimes heart-shaped. Paired stipular tendrils appear at the leaf stalk bases. Green stems are covered with weak, bristle-like prickles that turn distinctively black with age. Greenbrier thickets provide dense cover for small mammals and birds. Young leaves, shoots and tendrils are edible and make tasty additions to salads. Hispida means bristly in obvious reference to the stem bristles. Synonymous with and formerly known as S. tamnoides var. hispida. In the Joel Chandler Harris children’s story, the infamous “brier patch” which Brer Rabbit implored Brer Fox not to fling him into was presumably a tangled thicket of greenbrier.
Garden Uses
Greenbrier is a weedy vine that is not considered to have sufficient ornamental value for growing on trellises, fences and pergolas or in other prominent locations around the home. It is effective in open woodland areas and native plant areas. May be trained as a hedge or incorporated into a hedgerow for property lines. Also effective when grown along the ground as a ground cover, providing good erosion control for slopes and banks.