I found this growing vigorously in my parents' backyard. The first time we found it, we dug down to a huge root ball that looked more like a deformed radish, (we had to pull the dogs off of it, they were chewing it up as fast as they could), the original vine was brown and woody. A week or so later another stalk came up out of the root system that we missed and at about 3 feet looked just like a giant asparagus sprig. Dug that root up, and in about 3 weeks a new stalk has shown up. It's about 10 or so feet right now. Anyone have any idea? (The dogs are fine by the way)
You want to know what the throny stemed plant is and not trying to Identify the English Ivy or Bamboo that I see in the photos? I'm not good with 'subtropical' plants but a vine with thorns could be: - species of Smilax (greenbriar) - climbing rose - American bittersweet - bouganvellia Simon
Yes, the vine is what I am trying to id. It's crazy. I have been trying to find a good picture of species of smilax, so far no luck. Thanks for the ideas though, I am going to keep looking.
So far the only thing growing off of this vine is a couple tendrils and the little flap at the bottom in the first pic is the original bud that it pops out of, I will try to get a photo of the top and the root ball this weekend, thanks for your time.
The return of thorny menace II! Ok, I took more pictures of the mystery vine after I dug it up. It is approx 12 feet tall, the first pic is one of the tendril areas, the next is the top of the plant, the third is a pic of about the first 5ft of the plant from the base, the newer growth is smooth, the last pic is a cross section of the smoother part of the vine and the gooey aloe type slime in the middle. The last photo is the part of the root I pulled up, however the first time we dug up the original plant the root was much larger, about the size of a small cantelope. I looked up some of the plants suggested, of all the guesses smilax might be the one but I can't locate any pictures to compare it to. Any suggestions? This has really gotten me curious.
Yes, definitely Smilax, but which one??? Here is a photo of Smilax hispida, one of the fourteen species of Smilax found in South Carolina. USDA Search - Smilax, South Carolina
Thanks Smivies, I'm going to look through the link you passed on. I just wanted to put a name to it, I have never seen anything this size before. Again, thanks for the help.
Here in S TX we call the tye vines... seems the Native Indians here used them to make baskets and to tye up bundles of fire wood... I do know our horses and goats relish the leaves of this and birds love the berries.... Cat
