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• Orchids and related plants
• Irises, lilies, and other "monocots"
• Smilax herbacea

Smilax herbacea — carrion-flower

Facts

Carrion-flower gets its name from its unpleasant smelling flowers, which attract carrion flies as pollinators. The growing tips, including the unfolding leaves, can be eaten raw in a salad or boiled as a potherb.

Habitat

Floodplain (river or stream floodplains), forest edges, forests, meadows and fields, shores of rivers or lakes, swamps, wetland margins (edges of wetlands)

Characteristics

• Clonal plantlets

  Axillary bulblets

  there are no bulblets being produced in axils

• Flowers

  Anther attachment

  the anther is attached by its base to the filament

  Bulblets replace flowers

  there are no bulblets where the flowers are located

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused (the number of carpels equals the number of locules)

  Flower number

  At least 20

  Flower petal color

  green to brown

  Flower petal length

  3.5–4.5 mm

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Form of style

  the flower has two or more completely separate styles

  Fringed petal edges

  the petals are not fringed

  Hairs on flower stalk

  the flower stalk has no hairs on it

  Inflorescence type

  • the flowers grow out of the axil (point where a branch or leaf is attached to the main stem)
  • the inflorescence is an umbel (with an axis so short it appears the flowers all originate from the same point)

  Length of flower stalk

  0.5–2 mm

  Length of peduncle

  Up to 300 mm

  Marks on petals

  there are no noticeable marks on the petals

  Nectar spur

  the flower has no nectar spurs

  Number of carpels

  3

  Number of pistils

  1

  Number of sepals and/or petals

  there are six petals, sepals or tepals in the flower

  Number of styles

  0–1

  Ovary position

  the ovary is above the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal appearance

  the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are separate

  Sepal appearance

  the sepals resemble petals in color and texture

  Sepal length

  3.5–4.5 mm

  Sepal orientation

  the sepals are slightly curved outwards from the plant

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  the sepals are separate from one another

  Spathe

  the plant does not have a spathe

  Spathe form

  NA

  Stamen number

  6

  Stamen position relative to petals

  NA

  Stamens fused outwards

  the stamens are fused to the petals or tepals at or near their bases

  Style petal-like

  the style is not broad and flattened like a petal

  Tepals

  the petals and sepals are similar in size and color

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  blue

  Capsule ridges

  NA

  Fruit cross-section

  the fruit is round in cross-section

  Fruit length

  8–10 mm

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is fleshy

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is a berry (fleshy, with the wall enclosing one or more sections, with two or more seeds)

  Fruit width

  8–10 mm

  Other markings on berry

  the ripe fruits are mostly one color without spots or streaks

• Glands or sap

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives more than two years

  Root septa

  the roots do not have transverse septa

  Underground organs

  • the plant has a rhizome (a horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)
  • there are only slender roots on the plant

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  the underside of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Leaf blade basal lobes

  the leaf blades do not have basal lobes

  Leaf blade base

  the leaf has a distinct leaf stalk (petiole)

  Leaf blade base shape

  • The base of the leaf blade is cordate (heart-shaped, with rounded lobes) or sagittate (arrow-shaped, with pointed, backward-facing lobes)
  • the base of the leaf blade is truncate (ends abruptly in a more or less straight line as though cut off)

  Leaf blade bloom

  the underside of the leaf blade has a noticeable waxy or powdery bloom

  Leaf blade cross-section

  the leaf blade is more or less flat in cross-section

  Leaf blade faces

  both surfaces of the leaf blade are exposed

  Leaf blade form

  Fully-formed (i.e., expanded), +/- green leaf blades are found somewhere on the plant

  Leaf blade length

  45–120 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is oblong (rectangular but with rounded ends)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is roughly circular, as wide as long

  Leaf blade surface colors

  the upper side of the leaf blade is relatively uniform in color

  Leaf blade tip

  • the tip of the leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is obtuse (bluntly pointed)

  Leaf blade veins

  the lateral veins are palmate, (and do not arch towards the leaf tip) or pinnate

  Leaf blade width

  30–90 mm

  Leaf stalk length

  10–60 mm

  Leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

  Leaflet number

  0

  Stipule twining

  the stipules are twining, like tendrils

  Stipules

  this plant has stipules

• Place

  Habitat

  • terrestrial
  • wetlands

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • edges of forests
  • edges of wetlands
  • forests
  • meadows or fields
  • river or stream floodplains
  • shores of rivers or lakes
  • swamps

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the leaves have no particular smell

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem growth form

  the flowering stem trails along the ground or on other vegetation, or floats in the water

  Flowering stem leaves

  there is at least one fully-formed leaf on the flowering stem

  Stem hairs

  the stem is nearly or completely hairless

Wetland status

Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: FAC)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae