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Coral Greenbrier

Smilax walteri

Also known as Red-berried Greenbrier, Walter's Greenbrier, Walter's Catbrier

At a glance

Family

Smilacaceae (Greenbrier family)

Type

Woody, half-evergreen to deciduous climbing vine

Parts used

No established traditional medicinal or culinary use; berries and canes are chiefly valued for wildlife and winter décor

Size

Climbs and sprawls 10 to 20 feet along shrubs, trees, and fences

Bloom

Small greenish-white flowers in late spring, followed by clusters of bright coral-red berries that ripen in fall and often hang on through winter

Habitat

Swamps, pond edges, wet pine flatwoods, bottomland thickets, and pocosins across the southeastern and eastern United States

Acquisition

Forage

This plant in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Winter food for songbirds

Showy coral berry display

Dense wildlife cover

Stabilizes wet, boggy edges

Traditional uses

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Coral greenbrier is one of the quieter members of a genus better known for its famous cousins, the tropical Smilax species that gave the world true sarsaparilla, and Native peoples of the southeastern coastal plain did dig the thick, starchy roots of several regional greenbriers to pound into flour or brew into a reddish, nourishing drink. Smilax walteri itself, though, was noted more for what grew above ground than below it. Its ropes of glossy leaves and prickly canes formed the kind of tangled, thorny thickets that country folk called catbrier or briar patch, valued as living fences and shelter for rabbits, deer, and ground-nesting birds. Come autumn, its clusters of glowing coral-red berries against bare winter stems made it a favorite for cutting and bringing indoors, a small bit of color pulled from the swamp when little else was blooming.

How to grow & use it

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Pairs well with

✦Buttonbush
✦Virginia sweetspire
✦Swamp milkweed

Substitutes

✦Possumhaw holly
✦American holly

Choose it when

“A ribbon of coral berries strung through a bare winter swamp, the kind of small, bright thing that makes you stop and look twice.”

Did you know?

The species name honors Thomas Walter, an English-born planter and botanist whose 1788 book Flora Caroliniana was one of the very first attempts to catalog the plants of the American South, and Smilax walteri was among the species that carried his name into botanical record.

Safety

Coral greenbrier's edibility is not established, so its berries and roots should not be eaten. Its canes carry stiff prickles, and in the wild it can grow near toxic nightshade lookalikes, so take care with identification.