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<saydry@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1125750012.204650.14240@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I am trying to identify a vine found on a black walnut tree along the
> side of our road. It has single leaves, heart shaped, with parallel
> veins, about 2 inches wide and 3 inches long. It has a ball shaped
> cluster of berries or nuts that are green to purple, about 1 1/2 inch
> ball, each berry has a stem that is like a radius and they are all
> attached at the center, making it sort of a hollow ball of berries or
> nuts. This is in northwest Indiana.
Sounds like it's probably a species of _Smilax_. They often have
leaves and clusters [umbels] of flowers and fruits much as you
describe.
If so, the stem may well have been tough and wiry and had numerous
sharp prickles or spines, and the leaves would have had pairs of
tendrils at their bases. However, there are also some more herbaceous,
non-spiny species.
There are a considerable number of Smilax species in the US; I'm
not sure which are commonest in NW Indiana.
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/images/veg/Wetland/Smilax_Carrion_flowers_VK.html
http://www.ionxchange.com/species_pages/s/smilax_herbacea.html
http://www.swsbm.com/Images/S/Smilax.jpg
http://www.nicertutor.com/sketches/spring/weeds/Smilax_lasioneura.jpg
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/mbierner/bio406d/images/pics/smi/smilax_bona-nox.htm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=smilax+Indiana&btnG=Search
cheers
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