Greenbriar

Description:

A spiny, stout, thicket-forming vine, usually climbing by tendrils; has small, greenish flowers May to June; fruit ripens first or second year, depending on the variety and is black; deciduous leaves, variously shaped as arrowheads to oval to rounded and are thin, smooth and leathery; usually found in loose, dry, sandy soil in Texas, also east to Florida, north to Massachusetts and west to Nebraska.

Habitat:

Riparian woodland near Lake Lewisville.

Notes:

Wellesley College Greenbrier is a prickly, woody, vine which can grow thirty feet high if it has a tree to grow on. Greenbrier can also grow on bushes, on other Greenbrier plants, or itself. By itself, greenbrier is usually a small shrub. The leaves of this vine are heart-shaped and feel leathery to the touch. They grow up to five inches long. Greenbriers are best known for their stems, which are tough and have sharp thorns. When many Greenbriers are together, they make a thicket which is very difficult to pass through. This plant often grows along streams or ponds, or on the edges of forests, though it will grow in open woods too. It climbs with tendrils (root-like parts that grab onto branches or bark). Greenbrier thickets are great cover for wildlife. Many birds and other small animals, such as rabbits, hide inside Greenbriers for protection. Many birds also build nests in Greenbriers. Some of the animals which eat the leaves and stems of Greenbrier are White-tailed Deer, Beaver, and Eastern Cottontail. The flowers of Greenbrier smell bad, which attracts insects, such as Blue Bottle Flies. These flies help pollinate the plants.