Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

322 ALOACEAE
Fig. 136. Smilax anceps, from Tepi on the border between Illubabor and
Gonder floristic regions.
Smilax anceps
Description
Habitat and
distribution
1. Smilax anceps Willdenow
The species epithet means two­edged in Latin and may
refer to the winged petiole. It was described by Willdenow
in 1806 based on material from Mauritius. The species is
recognised by its umbellate inflorescences.
Climbing shrubs with slender woody stems up to 6 m long, often with
prickly spines in the lower parts. Leaves alternate, petiole 1–2.5 cm
long without prickles, angular to winged with two coiling tendrils
up to 10 cm long, blade 5–16 × 2–10 cm, leathery, broadly oblong to
elliptic, rounded or gradually narrowing at the base, conspicuously
3–5 nerved from base to apex. Inflorescence a simple spherical
umbel with 10–20 flowers; pedicels 7–11 mm when flowering,
up to 25 mm in fruit. Tepals 4–6 × 0.5–1 mm, greenish to cream
yellow; male flowers with stamens 5 mm long; female flowers with
ovary 2 mm long, style absent, stigma 3­branched. Berry 5–9 mm
in diameter, globose, green when unripe, maturing to purple­black.
Seeds, few, 3–4 mm in diameter.
The species grows in gallery forests near streams and
rivers between 1150 and 1700 m. It is recorded from
Wellega and Kefa floristc regions, and is otherwise
widely distributed from West Africa to South Africa and
also in Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion.