Jackson Similax

 

This vine's common name is Jackson's Smilax or Jackson vine. Taxonomists call it Smilax smallii, lately changed from lanceolata.Its cousins are vicious, with heinous thorns that will pierce and tear. When you are stuck by one of these thorns, it sends a chill over you similar to a wasp sting.This smilax however has no thorns except a few at the base. The stems which can grow 25 feet in a season have no thorns.These vines remain evergreen and make wonderful Christmas decorations. They have been used historically for this purpose. They are easily twined over the mantle or around a banister or a wreath.Unless they are kept out of the sun and kept watered or misted, they will not last more than a week or 10 days. Jackson's smilax was used before the advent of plastics and were quite wonderful for a Christmas season that lasted a week or less. It is not used as much now but is still a beautiful vine for decorating.The name is reported to have come into use when Stonewall Jackson came into town and the vine was used for decorating at parties and dinners.The vine is now used some to twine over entrances to homes.
The only way I know to harvest the vine for decoration is to yank it out of the trees. This is not always easy, but it can eventually be wrenched loose from it's lofty perch in the trees. I spot it after leaf drop in the fall. It is in the treetops gleaming a bright green . It has huge underground tubers like all other smilax vines, but these tubers are woody and are more like underground trunks than a dahlia tuber. The plant can not be popagated from these woody storage organs. Just get some roots and a piece of vine,if you want to move one to your yard.