# Common Greenbrier (Smilax rotundifolia)

> Common greenbrier, Smilax rotundifolia: a plant of 10 to 20 feet for zones 4 to 9, how fast it grows, the natives it is mistaken for, and how to handle it.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/common-greenbrier/

![Clusters of ripe blue-black common greenbrier berries with a whitish bloom below broad, round, glossy leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/common-greenbrier-1000.jpg?v=efcf6661 "Common greenbrier's ripe berries in the United States on November 24, 2007. They hang on into early spring, when wintering birds eat them.")
*Photo: Franklin Bonner, USFS (ret.), Bugwood.org, [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASmilax_rotundifolia_5424084.jpg))*

Shrub, 10 to 20 feet, zones 4 to 9; full sun, part shade or shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow common greenbrier, and it is not in our shop. This page is for telling it from the natives it is mistaken for.

## At a glance

| Fact | Common Greenbrier |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Roundleaf greenbrier, round-leaved greenbrier, catbrier, common catbrier, bullbrier, horsebrier |
| Form | Shrub |
| Height, feet | 10 to 20 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 20 |
| Zones | 4 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Flowers | April to June |
| Fruit | Berries, August to April |
| Pollination | Common greenbrier has male and female plants, so only a female plant with a male nearby bears berries. |
| Black walnut | Tolerant, on the Morton Arboretum's list as “greenbriar” |
| Ground | The forest understory, dry uplands, the Appalachians, old fields and edges, swamps and wet flats |
| Native in | 30 states and the District of Columbia |

Common greenbrier is native in 30 states and the District of Columbia: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, where it is naturalized, not native.

## Often mistaken for

Cat greenbrier's leaves are whitened beneath with a waxy, silvery coating, and its round stems often wear a white bloom and carry only thin prickles. Common greenbrier's leaves are glossy and never whitened beneath, and its stems are usually four-angled with stout prickles.

Saw greenbrier's thick, leathery leaves are often fiddle-shaped or lobed at the base, edged with a thickened rim that may carry small prickles, and often blotched with white. Common greenbrier's thinner leaves are round to heart-shaped, with smooth edges.

Bristly greenbrier's lower stems are thick with slender, flexible, blackish bristles of uneven length. Common greenbrier's prickles are fewer, stout and flattened, green with dark tips. Bristly greenbrier's berries also lack the whitish bloom of common greenbrier's.

## Handling

Common greenbrier's stems carry stout prickles up to half an inch long, and its thickets are hard to get through. Cutting or burning the tops does not end it, since it sprouts again from rhizomes that live on for years. Greenbriers also resist most herbicides.

## Read from

Its figures come from the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, NC State Extension, the Flora of North America, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Wildflower Center, Virginia Tech's dendrology site, the Morton Arboretum and the USDA PLANTS Database.