Botanical atlas

Carrion Flower

Smilax herbacea

Long before it had a tidy common name, this scrambling woodland vine was known to Native peoples of the eastern forests as a useful, unassuming neighbor. Its roots were dug, pounded, and washed to yield a starchy paste used much like the roots of its greenbrier relatives, thickening soups or setting into a simple jelly in lean seasons. Herbalists working in the broader Smilax tradition, the same family that gave the world true sarsaparilla, sometimes turned carrion flower's roots into a mild tonic tea, taken as a gentle spring cleanse after a long winter of heavier, stored food. The tender young shoots, meanwhile, were simply eaten fresh, snapped off and cooked like a wild, delicately bitter asparagus.

Safety.

No significant toxicity is known, and its young shoots have long been eaten as a trail nibble, though correct identification matters since it grows tangled among other woodland vines.