General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Vine
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Partial or Dappled Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Soil pH Preferences: Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Plant Height: To 20' or more
Leaves: Evergreen
Semi-evergreen
Deciduous
Fruit: Showy
Edible to birds
Other: Clusters of 1/4 inch dark blue to blackish berries.
Fruiting Time: Late summer or early fall
Fall
Late fall or early winter
Winter
Flowers: Inconspicuous
Flower Color: Green
Other: greenish-white clusters
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Spring
Late spring or early summer
Summer
Underground structures: Rhizome
Resistances: Birds
Humidity tolerant
Drought tolerant
Propagation: Seeds: Self fertile
Miscellaneous: With thorns/spines/prickles/teeth
Dioecious

Image
Common names
  • Saw Greenbrier
  • Greenbrier
  • Cowvine
  • Greenbriar
  • Cat-Brier
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Smilax bona-nox
  • Synonym: Smilax renifolia
  • Synonym: Smilax bona-nox var. littoralis

Photo Gallery
Location: Opp, AL  Z8b
Date: 2023-04-05
Location: Opp, AL  Z8b
Date: 2023-04-05
Location: Opp, AL  Z8b
Date: 2023-04-05
A small sprout with only 4 leaves has started forming a tuber alr
Location: Sea World San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
Date: 2022-04-03
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2018-04-25
Location: Minnesott Beach, NC
Date: 2024-01-26
I absolutely despise these vines.
Location: Fort Fisher, North Carolina (dune complex)
Date: May 23, 2023
Saw greenbrier #457; RAB p. 287, 41-2-5; AG p.520, 116-7; LHB p.
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2014-04-23
Dried root
Location: Sea World San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
Date: 2022-04-03
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2015-09-25
Location: Sebastian, Florida
Date: 2016-05-18
Location: Sebastian, Florida
Date: 2016-05-18
Location: Ft Worth Nature Ctr & Refuge
Date: 2017-11-19
Location: St. Joseph Peninsula state park, St. Joe, FL.
Date: 2014-05-10
Variegated form spotted adjacent to camp site in state park natur
Location: Marianna, Florida panhandle
Date: 2017-05-10
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2012-04-13
Location: Fountain, Florida
Date: 2012-04-13
Location: Charleston, SC
Date: 2012-12-04
Growing through a Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) tree... the
Location: Fort Fisher, North Carolina (dune complex)
Date: May 23, 2023
Saw greenbrier #457; RAB p. 287, 41-2-5; AG p.520, 116-7; LHB p.
Location: zone 8/9 Lake City, Fl.
Date: 2012-02-10
Location: zone 8/9 Lake City, Fl.
Date: 2012-02-10
notice the sharp thorns
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2014-04-10
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2017-01-02
Location: Jacksonville, TX
Date: Apr 28, 2011 1:43 PM
The new tips are edible and taste very good.
Location: Ft Worth Nature Ctr & Refuge
Date: 2017-11-19
Location: Ft Worth Nature Ctr & Refuge
Date: 2017-11-24
Location: Sebastian, Florida
Date: 2016-05-18
Upper and lower surface of two leaves
Location: Marianna, Florida panhandle
Date: 2017-05-10
Location: Opp, AL
Date: 2015-01-31
Location: Fountain,Florida
Date: 2012-04-13
Location: Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina | June, 2022
Date: 2022-06-12
Location: Fountain, Florida
Date: 2012-04-20
Location: Fountain, Florida
Date: 2012-04-20
Location: Fountain, Florida
Date: 2012-04-20
Location: Fountain, Florida
Date: 2012-02-20
Location: zone 8/9 Lake City, Fl.
Date: 2012-02-10
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Date: October 18, 2011
Location: Ft Worth Nature Ctr & Refuge
Date: 2017-11-19
Location: Marianna, Florida panhandle
Date: 2017-05-09
Location: Marianna, Florida panhandle
Date: 2017-05-10
Location: Marianna, Florida panhandle
Date: 2017-05-10
This plant is tagged in:
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Comments:
  • Posted by whiteoleander on Nov 15, 2020 1:07 PM concerning plant:
    HOW TO ERADICATE SMILAX-BONA-NOX (bull vine/devil vine). Smilax bona-nix is not only a nuisance, it is long-lived and invasive. Our property was over-run with this noxious vine. Many of the vines had thick, woody bases that branched out in multiple leafy, thorny vines across the canopy of trees by a creek. Digging out the root exposed small, white, potato-like clusters from which rhizomes shot off in all directions. The vine is so prolific, digging out the roots may not be an option. By the hardest, we pulled the vines down from the trees and cut them off to the ground. A couple of times each month, new shoots were relentlessly snipped to the ground before they produced leaves. Hand-hand gardening clippers are more effective than weed-eater cutting. It required a couple of seasons of systematically depriving the vines of photo-synthesis when, much to my surprise, the shoots dwindled in frequency, and then there were none! We have also used this method on other properties with similar success.
  • Posted by jmorth (central Illinois) on Feb 20, 2018 1:07 AM concerning plant:
    An aggressive, high-climbing, tough and woody vine weed that climbs trees and shrubs in east central Texas. Tendrils allow it to climb very high. Stems have spiny thorns and are hazardous to humans. This perennial rhizome sends out underground stems that make roots and shoots at nodes.
    When my brother-in-law volunteered to help clean up a Ft Worth nature preserve, he said removing these vines was a near everyday job. Eradication is not easy. Inevitably, they'd come back.
  • Posted by plantladylin (Sebastian, Florida - Zone 10a) on Oct 18, 2011 7:56 PM concerning plant:
    Saw Greenbriar is found in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas around the world. It is a thorny vine that climbs trees and fences and can attain heights in excess of 20 feet. It will cover shrubs and other plants forming prickly dense thickets. The green leaves are variable in shape and sometimes have yellowish blotches. The berries are an important food source for birds and other animals, and the dense thickets offer protection and shelter.

    This thorny vine is considered a weed by many here in Florida. I find this plant growing in wooded scrub areas along our property line, as well as popping up and climbing around and through the chain link fence. It's hard to eradicate without digging the rhizomes which seem to go deep into the soil.
  • Posted by amyscoutmom (central Virginia - Zone 6b) on Feb 19, 2018 12:27 PM concerning plant:
    I found smilax growing wild in my backyard yesterday, in Louisa, VA. It had some pretty black berries still on the vine that the birds and squirrels haven't finished off yet.
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WebTucker On May 24, 2023 Obtained plant
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