Herbs. Stems annual, erect to leaning, with bladeless bracts proximally, leaves distally, 0.3-0.8 m, herbaceous; prickles absent. Leaves mostly distal (upper 1/2-2/3 of plant); petiole thin, shorter than blade; tendrils few and short or absent; blade thin, broadly elliptic-ovate to subrotund, 9-12 × 5-9 cm, pubescent and not glaucous abaxially, base cordate to truncate, margins entire, convex, apex round to acuminate. Umbels 1-3, proximalmost axillary to bracts below leaves, to 25-flowered, hemispherical to globose. Flowers: perianth green; tepals 3.5-4 mm; anthers ± equaling filaments; ovules (1-)2 per locule; pedicel 0.5-1.3 cm. Berries purplish black, globose, 9-11 mm, not glaucous. 2n = 52. Flowering May--Jun. Open woods and thickets; 100--800 m; Ont.; Ark., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Mich., Minn., Mo., Nebr., Ohio, Okla., S.Dak., Tenn., Wis. Smilax ecirrhata is similar to S. huberi and S. biltmoreana, both with fewer leaves of different shapes.
Herbaceous, unarmed, ±erect, unbranched, to 8 dm, without tendrils, or producing a few from the upper lvs only; lvs few, mostly less than 20, often only 7-9, ±crowded on the upper part of the stem only, narrowly to broadly ovate, truncate to cordate at base, convexly narrowed to a short cusp, hairy beneath; peduncles axillary to lance-linear bracts on the lfless lower part of the stem, or rarely also from the axil of the lowest lf, ascending, 5-10 cm, with few (seldom more than 25) fls; tep 3.5-5 mm; seeds 3-5; 2n=26. Rich woods and thickets; Mich. to Minn., s. to Ky., Mo., and e. Okla. May.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.