Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Smilax australis
Common name
Lawyer Vine, Wait-a-while, Barbwire Vine, Sweet Sarsaparilla, Smilax, Austral Sarsaparilla
Family
Smilacaceae
Where found
Forest, heath, rocky areas, and moist gullies. Coast, ranges, and tablelands.
Notes
Woody climber or creeper, twining and climbing by tendrils, stems to about 15 m long. Stems hairless, usually with prominent prickles. Fruit fleshy. Leaves alternating up the stems, mostly 5–15 cm long, 30–100 mm wide, leathery, with 5 longitudinal veins, surfaces green and hairless, lower surface paler, but not glaucous, tips pointed to rounded and notched; stalk twisted. Male and female flowers on different plants. Flowers white to cream or green, sometimes reddish, with 6 'petals', each 3–5 mm long. Flowers in few- to many-flowered clusters. Flowers all year, but chiefly spring–summer. Fruit shiny black, round, 5–10 mm in diameter.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Smilax~australis (accessed 7 February, 2021)
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