keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

1118 SMILACACEAE/SMILAX
Ruppia cirrhosa (Petagna) Grande, (with tendrils, presumably in reference to the thread-like
leaves), SPIRAL DITCH-GRASS. Submersed, aquatic, non-rhizomatous herb; stems rooting at lower
nodes, to 55 cm long; leaves alternate to subopposite, sessile, thread-like, ca. 3–45 cm long, 0.2–
0.5 mm wide, apically acute, with widened basal portion � sheathing the stem; inflorescences
pedunculate 2-flowered spikes each subtended by a spathe; peduncles elongating and coiling
so that at maturity 3–30 cm long, with 5 to 30 coils; flowers bisexual, minute; perianth absent;
stamens 2, sessile; anther sacs 2 per stamen, these separated by a broad connective, the flower
thus appearing to have 4 stamens; pistils 4–6, separate; ovaries superior, sessile at anthesis, but
by maturity developing 20–35 mm long stalks so that the several fruits developing from a
single flower appear to be in an umbel-like arrangement; fruits drupe-like, 1.5–2 mm long, each
with an erect lateral beak to 1 mm long; 2n=40 (Thorne 1993b). Lakes, typically those with high
mineral concentrations; Van Zandt Co. (Turner et al. 2003; R. Haynes, pers. comm.); this location
is presumably in the area of Grand Saline, where there is an extensive salt marsh complex due
to the presence of a salt dome; known from a few widely scattered localities in TX; widespread
in w Canada and the w U.S., scattered further e (IL, OH, MI, MO, MN). Summer–fall. [Buccaferrea
cirrhosa Petagna, R. cirrhosa subsp. occidentalis (S. Watson) Á. Löve, R. occidentalis S. Watson]
Ruppia maritima L., (growing on the seacoast), WIDGEON-GRASS, BEAKED DITCH-GRASS, DUCK-
GRASS, found in TX only in the Gulf Prairies and Marshes and South TX Plains (Hatch et al.
1990), is known from shallow saline waters near the coast just to the s of East TX; it is primarily
a coastal species occurring widely along the coasts of Canada and the U.S. Similar to R. cirrhosa;
leaves 6–10.5 cm long, apically � obtuse; fruit with beak terminal, slightly recurved, on stalks
12–19 mm long; 2n=20 (Thorne 1993b). Spring–fall. We are following Haynes (2000c) in not recognizing
varieties in this species. The two TX species can be separated as follows:
1. Leaf apices acute; peduncles with 5–30 coils, 3 cm or more long; plants mostly from inland
localities __________________________________________________________________________ R. cirrhosa
1. Leaf apices � obtuse; peduncles with 0–3(–4) coils, less than 2.5 cm long; plants mostly from
coastal localities ___________________________________________________________________ R. maritima
SMILACACEAE Vent.
GREENBRIER OR CATBRIER FAMILY
AA small (375 species in 4 genera—rarely as many as 12 genera are recognized) family nearly
worldwide in distribution but particularly in the tropics and subtropics, with a few in temperate
areas (Holmes 2002c). Molecular evidence (e.g., Chase et al. 1995a) supports the monophyly
of the family. The Smilacaceae has often been submerged into the Liliaceae or even combined
with the Dioscoreaceae (Tyrl et al. 1994). Based on molecular evidence (Chase et al. 1993, 1995a;
Rudall et al. 2000b; Vinnersten & Bremer 2001), the family falls “clearly within the Liliales”
(Judd 1998). It is apparently most closely related to Liliaceae (Vinnersten & Bremer 2001), differing
“mainly in leaf characteristics and in being dioecious” (Holmes 2002c). According to
Holmes (2002c), the leaf venation is “atypical of monocotyledons in being reticulate [= net-like]
between major veins.” (subclass Liliidae—Cronquist; order Liliales—APG II)
FAMILY RECOGNITION IN THE FIELD: woody (except 1 species), usually prickly (painfully so) vines
with tendrils and alternate, often � leathery leaves, with the main veins longitudinal and the
secondary veins in a net-like arrangement; flowers (small, inconspicuous) and fruits (small
berries) in axillary umbels.
REFERENCES: Dahlgren et al. 1985; Judd 1998; Holmes 2002c.
SMILAX L. GREENBRIER, CATBRIER
Dioecious woody (herbaceous in 1 species) trailers or usually climbers from slender non-tuberous
rhizomes or from starch-rich tuberous rhizomes, these sometimes quite large in size and some-