• Family : SMILACACEAE
  (Greenbrier Or Catbrier Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : KUMARIKA FAMILY (कुमारिका फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Smilacaceae
• Synonym(s) : Smilax aspera var. altissima Moris & De Not.; Smilax aspera var. angustifolia DC.; Smilax aspera var. balearica Willk. ex A.DC.; Smilax aspera f. balearica (Willk. ex A.DC.) Knoche; Smilax aspera subsp. balearica (Willk. ex A.DC.) K.Richt.; Smilax aspera f. intermedia Knoche; Smilax aspera var. maculata (Roxb. ex D.Don) A.DC.; Smilax aspera var. mauritanica (Poir.) Gren.; Smilax aspera var. mauritanica (Poir.) Gren. & Godr.; Smilax aspera subsp. mauritanica (Poir.) Arcang.; Smilax aspera subsp. nigra (Willd.) Nyman; Smilax aspera var. nigra (Willd.) A.DC.; Smilax aspera var. ochrocarpa A.DC.; Smilax aspera var. perrottetiana A.DC.; Smilax aspera var. picta Willk.; Smilax aspera f. punctata (Kolb) Rehder; Smilax aspera var. punctata Kolb; Smilax balearica (Willk. ex A.DC.) Burnat & Barbey; Smilax brevipes Jord.; Smilax capitata Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don; Smilax catalonica Poir.; Smilax conferta Jord.; Smilax excelsa Duhamel; Smilax goetzeana Engl.; Smilax inermis Jord.; Smilax intricatissima Jord.; Smilax longipes Gand.; Smilax maculata Roxb. ex D.Don; Smilax mauritanica Webb & Berthel.; Smilax mauritanica Desf.; Smilax mauritanica Poir.; Smilax mauritanica subsp. vespertilionis (Boiss.) K.Richt.; Smilax mauritanica var. vespertilionis Boiss.; Smilax nigra Willd.; Smilax nilagirensis Steud. ex A.DC.; Smilax oxycarpa Jord.; Smilax peduncularis Jord.; Smilax pendulina Lowe; Smilax picta K.Koch; Smilax platyphylla Jord.; Smilax rettiana Willis ex Livera; Smilax rigida Banks & Sol.; Smilax sagittata Desv.; Smilax sagittifolia G.Lodd.; Smilax saxicola Gand.; Smilax tetragona L.f.; Smilax variabilis Pers.; Smilax willkommii Gand.
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Smilax aspera L.
• Vernacular name :
  • Chennarvalli, Pomburikodi (Malayalam)
• Habit : Climber
• Habitat : Tropical evergreen forests, Shola
• Flower, Fruit : February-June
• Collector(s) Name : C.Townsend, T.P.Ramamoorthy
• Collection Date : 23/05/1973
• Collection Nos : 53
• Collection Locality : Nilgiris
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Visakhapatnam district
  • Kerala : Palakkad district, Idukki district
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • Himachal Pradesh : Himachal Pradesh
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Kameng
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canary Islands, China, Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Greece, India, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Pales
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canary Islands, China, Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Greece, India, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Tibet, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zaïre
• Literature :
  • Pullaiah, T., 1997. Flora of Andhra Pradesh. Vol. 3
  • emonocot http://e-monocot.org/tour#classify 09-10-2015
  • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
  • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Materials for Flora of Arunachal Pradesh. Volume 3, Botanical Survey of India, 2009. Pg.: 208
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Smilax aspera
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Smilax aspera. Downloaded on 13 February 2026.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution