Smooth Carrionflower
Smilax herbacea
native
Other Name:
Smooth Herbaceous Greenbrier
Smooth Carrionflower is a native vine that grows in much of Virginia. Some of it grows along the west trail at the south end of Monticello Park. Carrionflowers get their name because some smell like rotting flesh, which might be unpleasant for humans, but which is extremely attractive to various insects. Among the flies who pollinate the flowers are blowflies, fleshflies, mosquitoes, syrphid flies, and muscid flies. The flowers are also pollinated by beetles and small bees. Smooth Carrionflowers can grow to be more than 8 feet tall without support, but they will eventually fall over unless they can find something to lean on.
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