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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 15. 2020
Plants of the Southeast
“Jackson-vine," "Catbriar," Smilax smallii
Photo/Murray Glusman
Should you be so inclined to dig up one of these things, consider eating it—as your re
ward. It turns out that early settlers used these for food, fashioning a sort of mush out of
them. I'm thinking that with enough butter, salt and a sprinkle of hot sauce, it's probably
delicious.
By John Nelson
University of
South Carolina
It reminds me of some
thing from a monster movie:
a cross between a potato and
a scratchy, wiggly sea crea
ture. But of course, it's part of
a plant...and it could be in
your backyard.
This is what we botanists
call a "tuberous rhizome."
Which means that it is an un
derground stem, more or less
horizontal, and conspicu
ously swollen. (You will re
call from Botany 101
examples of rhizomes and tu
bers: fresh ginger from the
supermarket is a rhizome...
an Irish potato is a tuber.)
Catbriar tissues are loaded
with stored carbohydrates as
well as a considerable
amount of water, and if you
were to cut into one of these
strange things, it would have
the consistency of a hard
apple. In addition to provid
ing a stored food source for
the plant, it is very effective
as a "perennating" organ, that
is, allowing the plant to send
up new stems repeatedly
each spring. And of course,
this means that if you have
this plant growing in your
yard and you don't want it,
you are going to have to do
some pretty fierce digging.
Catbriar is a vine, one of
over 300 related species
found mostly in the tropics,
and many of which may be
very prickly.
Its early stems are fleshy
and succulent, and termed
"leader shoots." They look
something like giant aspara
gus stalks, and in fact, have
been used as a food source.
With age, the leader
shoots become woody and
hard, and sometimes form
thickets. Tear-drop shaped
leaves are produced on upper
branches, and the leaves are
shiny green on the upper sur
face. The vines are capable of
climbing high into trees, by
means of tendrils produced at
the leaf bases, and then
branching, forming thick
dangling festoons of dark
greenery.
The vines are therefore
quite handsome, conspicuous
during the winter... and in the
past, have sometimes been
used as a Christmas decora
tion.
Flowers are produced in
the summer, and these are
small and rather drab, with
six pale yellow perianth
parts. A dozen or so flowers
arise from the end of a short
stalk, and thus form clusters.
Each flower produces a sin
gle berry, these usually black
when mature. The berries
take about a year to ripen,
and they are eaten by a vari
ety of wildlife species.
You can see this plant
rather commonly in a variety
of natural habitats, usually on
well-drained soils, rather
than in swamps. It is mostly
a coastal plain species, occur
ring from Delaware south to
central Florida and then west
to eastern Texas.
[John Nelson is the retired
curator of the A. C. Moore
Herbarium at the University
of South Carolina, in the De
partment of Biological Sci
ences, Columbia SC 29208.
As a public service, the
Herbarium offers free plant
identifications. For more in
formation, visit www.herbar-
ium.org or email
johnbnelson@sc. rr. com
©JohnNelson2020.]
UGA Mountain Research & Education
Center becomes a seed bank location
c w
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IDDD Rounds 7.G2x39 $329
All sizes, and all kinds
Corn stalks, plus our
regular great produce
Mon-Sat - 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. 1350 W. Church Street
Sunday 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Jasper (across from Ingles)
By Josh Paine
CAES News
Gold may be rare in the
north Georgia mountains, but
now the region boasts a seed
bank that might be worth just
as much to Appalachian na
tives and local gardening en
thusiasts.
Becky Griffin, community
and school garden coordina
tor for University of Georgia
Cooperative Extension, has
partnered with the University
of North Georgia (UNG) to
host a secondary site for heir
loom seeds from the moun
tain region at the UGA
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences
Mountain Research and Edu
cation Center in Blairsville.
Beginning in 2006,
UNG’s Saving Appalachian
Gardens and Stories project
has collected, grown and
shared seeds to preserve the
area’s heritage as part of the
Appalachian Studies Center
in UNG’s College of Educa
tion.
“The Upland Mountain
South is home to some of the
highest levels of agrobiodi
versity in North America,”
said Karrie Ann Fadroski, the
project founder and UNG
senior lecturer in biology.
“Here, many gardeners con
tinue to maintain their folk
crop varieties that have been
passed down through their
family and community.”
Seeds for cultivars like
‘Mr. Lovell’s Wintergreens’,
‘Aunt Cora’s Sunburst Toma
toes’ and ‘Lillian Marshall
Bean’ that have been passed
down for generations will
now be stored in refrigeration
at UGA's Mountain Research
and Education Center.
Expanding to a second lo
cation is critical to ensure
there are plenty of seeds
available as a backup.
“Some of these seeds that
have been collected might be
the only ones that are left,”
said Griffin, an active seed
saver and part of the Seed
Savers Exchange and Com
munity Seed Network non
profits.
“Seed saving and sharing
can be an important way for
many cultures to preserve
their heritage,” she ex
plained. “What makes people
feel like they’re at home is
what’s in their garden.”
Seed saving can also be
taught in collaboration with
school gardens and inter
twined with history lessons,
Griffin noted.
Blairsville's Georgia
Mountain Research and Edu
cation Center is an hour north
of UNG’s main campus in
Dahlonega. It’s been a center
of agricultural research since
the 1930s and is a fixture of
the mountain community.
“We have a long history in
preserving our mountain her
itage with native plants and
promoting their use in the
landscape through social pro
grams,” said center Superin
tendent Ray Covington. “It is
our pleasure to continue this
tradition by providing a sec
ondary site to save and pre
serve historic Appalachian
seeds.”
Learn more about the
CAES Mountain Research
and Education Center at
gamountain.caes.uga.edu.
For more information about
saving and storing seeds, see
UGA Extension Bulletin
1486, “Variety Selection and
Seed Saving for Organic
Growers,” at
extension.uga.edu/publica-
tions.
[Josh Paine is a market
ing specialist with the Uni
versity of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environ
mental Sciences.]
Open the door
to business
Advertise in the Progress
706-253-2457
Free Rotary Food Boxes
Talking Rock area
October 20th, 2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
Rotarians delivering USDA food boxes earlier this year
Anyone in need is welcome to receive a box
Distribution Locations/Times
• Talking Rock First Baptist Church 2pm-6pm*
• Bart’s Bait and Tackle 2pm-6pm*
• Hinton United Methodist Church 2pm-6pm*
(*Or until supplies are gone; First come, first served)
Boxes are 40 pounds and contain produce, meat
and dairy
‘‘Service above Self” - the Rotary motto
^5 Save over 60%
744 Noah Drive, Suite 108-109. Jasper, Georgia
(706) 692-0119 / Hablamos Espanol
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