smilax

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. See catbrier.
2. n. A slender vine (Asparagus asparagoides) that has glossy foliage and is popular as a floral decoration.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of liliaceous plants, type of the tribe Smilaceæ. It is characterized by diœcious flowers in umbels, with a perianth of six distinct curving segments, the fertile containing several, sometimes six, thread-shaped staminodes, three broad recurved stigmas, and a three-celled ovary which becomes in fruit a globose berry usually containing but one or two seeds. There are about 200 species, widely scattered through most tropical and temperate regions; 11 occur in the northeastern United States. They are usually woody vines from a stout root-stock, bearing alternate two-ranked evergreen leaves with reticulated veins between the three or more prominent nerves. The petioles are persistent at the base, and are often furnished with two tendrils, by which some species climb to great heights, and others mat into densely tangled thickets. Various tropical American species yield sarsaparilla. (See sarsaparilla and china-root.) S. aspera of the south of Europe, called rough bindweed or prickly ivy, is the source of Italian sarsaparilla. Other species are used medicinally in India, Australia, Mauritius, and the Philippines. One of these, S. glycyphylla, an evergreen shrubby climber of Australia, is there known as sweet tea, from the use of its leaves. The rootstocks of many species are large and tuberiferous; those of S. Pseudo-China are used in the southern United States to fatten hogs, and as the source of a domestic beer; those of S. China yield a dye. The stems of some pliant species, as S. Pseudo-China, are used in basket-making, and the young shoots of a Persian species are there used as asparagus. S. Pseudo-China and S. bona-nox are known as bullbrier, and several others with prickly stems as catbrier and greenbrier. See also carrion-flower.
2. n. A plant of the genus Smilax.
3. n. A delicate greenhouse vine from the Cape of Good Hope, best known as Myrsiphyllum aspa ragoides, now classed under Asparagus. Its apparent leaves (really expanded branches) are bright-green on both sides, with the aspect of those of Smilax, but finer. The plant grows to a length of several feet, festooning beautifully. It is much used in decoration, and forms the leading green constituent in bouquets. It is sometimes called Boston smilax.
4. n. In entomology, a genus of coleopterous insects.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any member of the Smilax genus of greenbriers.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A genus of perennial climbing plants, usually with a prickly woody stem; green brier, or cat brier. The rootstocks of certain species are the source of the medicine called sarsaparilla.
2. n. A delicate trailing plant (Myrsiphyllum asparagoides) much used for decoration. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. sometimes placed in Smilacaceae
2. n. fragile twining plant of South Africa with bright green flattened stems and glossy foliage popular as a floral decoration