The berries of catbrier are a favorite of birds. The seeds within the fruit are often
dispersed by birds, making them farmers of their next meal. Photo: J. MORTON GALETTO
I’ve had a history of entanglements with our topic plant. They have been painful and bruising and have drawn blood. Unfortunately, they have evoked a list of expletives too long and indecent to place in a family publication.
When we first moved to our property by the river I spent many hours tugging this adversary out of the trees and away from our intended forest clearings. Its common name is round-leafed cat brier or Smilax rotundifolia. There are a number of species in New Jersey but I believe my entanglements have primarily been with S. rotundifolia. It has many names—common greenbrier, biscuit-leaves, and green brier.
Many of these names are also linked to other members of the Smilacaceae family—saw greenbrier (Smilax bona-nox), bristly greenbrier (Smilax tamnoides), and greenbrier (Smilax glauca). All are vines, all have thorns, and all are not fun to encounter. It is the unnavigable aspect that makes them so special in the animal world, yet dreaded by people.
Trying to rid the property of it proved impossible. It is a perennial with a long-reaching root system that allows it to pop up distances from the main thicket. I happily leave river borders covered in a thicket of greenbrier for which our rabbits are most grateful, and in which our hunting dogs are continually left foiled. In some areas of our yard it acts to keep our dogs from doing a river’s edge end-run around our fencing.
In fact, European colonists used many species of thorny plants as natural barriers. One of the most famous of these is the invasive multiflora rose, a nasty impenetrable thorny shrub. Conversely, the greenbriers are native.
Br’er Rabbit may be many readers’ first acquaintance with briers. Based originally on African folktales in which animals speak, the tale involves trickster Br’er Rabbit (Brother Rabbit) encountering a fox and wolf who are convinced by Br’er to toss him into a thicket from which he quickly escapes, leaving his would-be assailants in a lurch, having missed a chance for rabbit stew.
This fable, like many, is parable based on fact. The truth is that brier patches save many animals from potential predators. Small birds commonly fly into thickets, with their tiny wingspans navigating the tight web of thorny vines that larger raptor species are unable to penetrate. Rabbits and other small mammals avoid aerial predators and larger mammals by running the tunnels made by the brier’s closely knit web. Though they may be a nemesis to people when they wander off the trail, they are a salvation to many forest creatures, offering a barbed wire of resistance thatprotects them from harm.
The benefits of the smilax don’t end there. They have berries that mature mid-autumn and persist into winter. These provide sustenance to a vast number of bird species including cardinal, ruffed grouse, red-bellied woodpecker, white-throated sparrow, crow, catbird, brown thrasher, and bluebird. Young foliage is eaten by white-tailed deer and by lagomorphs such as rabbits, hares, and pikas.
Typically, I can tell that an area is frequented by deer simply by seeing lots of cat brier at heights that do not exceed a foot.
People can enjoy the new-growth leaves and stems of this perennial as well. I’ve eaten them as fresh greens and found them tasty. The rootstock is also edible, but I’ve not tried it. I’d always been taught that the berries were inedible for humans but that is inaccurate. In fact, according to well-known North Carolinian Helen Yoest, director of Bee Better Naturally, “The berries are delicious raw or cooked into a jam or jelly.” Further she states, “Roots can be ground and dried and used like flour. Early Native Americans used the roots as a starch source. The roots can also be used like any root vegetable—boiled, stewed, or roasted.”
If greenbrier shows up in an unwanted spot, continually cutting it to the ground is the most effective way to control it. Herbicides generally don’t have the desired effect. Photo: Clayton H. Ziemke
One discouraging aspect to the berry is that it is small and commonly contains two seeds, so I suppose a jam would be best. Secondly berries mean navigating, at the very least, at the edge of the brambles and getting poked by thorns. Myself, I’d prefer to see the birds enjoy them. But should an apocalypse close down the supermarket, I now know that these can be a source of sustenance.
Ethnobotany uses are documented for greenbriers. There are some species differences but most show the Cherokee using its analgesic properties by making brier scratches in localized painful areas as in rheumatism. Parched and powdered leaves were used to treat scalds. For dermatological problems powdered and beaten leaves were placed on boils and galled places (sores caused by chronic irritation). Decoctions were used in dispelling afterbirth. Powdered root was applied as a deodorant. These are but a few examples of Native American medicinal practices.
The greenbriers have heart-shaped leaves placed alternately along the vine/shrub. Smilax rotundifolia stems can climb to 32 feet and fasten to bark and limbs with tendrils. Its greenish-yellow flowers appear in late May/early June, with male and female clusters being found on the same plant. There are six petals, and the stems are generally pencil-thick or thinner.
Greenbriers are extremely adaptable, preferring sandy soils, either dry or moist, and acidic to slightly acidic (a pH of 5.0-6.0) conditions. They grow in sunny to partial shady conditions.
They are one of a number of species that I have found bothersome at first, but that with time and understanding I’ve come to appreciate. I suspect it will be hard to remind myself of that the next time I’m stuck in a thicket of briers—but there’s always room for growth. And grow they will.
Sources
Greenbrier, Smilax rotundifolia, Helen Yoest, Beebetternaturally.com, January 2021.
Abrahams, Roger (2011). African Folktales. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307803191.
Missouri Department of Conservation, Online field guide, Round-Leafed Catbrier.
Native American Ethnobotany. Moerman, D.E. Timber Press 1998, Portland, Oregon.
USDA Plant Database.
Human Connections – Greenbriers:
Wild edibles enthusiasts give high ratings to the various greenbriers. The fat, tender, fleshy stems of new growth can be snapped off and served as an asparagus-like vegetable served raw, cooked, or in a casserole. Here are some general suggestions:
• You can simply boil or blanch them and serve with butter.
• You can use them in omelets or stir-fries.
• One casserole idea is to preboil or steam the brier tips and layer them with sliced hard-cooked eggs in a greased casserole dish, starting and ending with the greenbrier. Top with a white sauce, or a white sauce with cheese, and bake.
• Greenbrier shoots can be included in a pickle crock, along with a variety of other wild greens such as grape leaves, cattail shoots, day lily shoots and unopened flower buds, redbud pods, purslane stems, and so on.
The roots of this and other prickly stemmed greenbriers can be used to make a drink similar to root beer or a sweet jelly can be made from boiling the roots and adding sugar.
Source: Missouri Department of Conservation, Online field guide, Round-Leafed Catbrier
