Smilax ancepsWilld.

WFO wfo-0000740727 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Smilax anceps, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. a Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-12 / obs. 183498213
Smilax anceps, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. b Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 183023734
Smilax anceps, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. c Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 183023277
Smilax anceps, photographed by Margaret Burger
fig. d Margaret Burger, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 176776048
Smilax anceps, photographed by Rosemary Harrison
fig. e Rosemary Harrison, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 165656209
Smilax anceps, photographed by Margaret Burger
fig. f Margaret Burger, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 166297662
Smilax anceps, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. g Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 164902085
Smilax anceps, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. h Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154685628

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 41 botanical countries

Regions where Smilax anceps is native: Angola, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBurkinaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEswatiniEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe ComorosMauritiusRéunion
Native distribution of Smilax anceps, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 17 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Smilax anceps var. boutonii Baker
  • Smilax anceps var. semiamplexicaulis Baker
  • Smilax borbonica A.DC.
  • Smilax cynodon Cordem.
  • Smilax goudotiana DC.
  • Smilax goudotiana A.DC.
  • Smilax herbacea Thunb.
  • Smilax kraussiana Meisn.
  • Smilax kraussiana var. dregei A.DC.
  • Smilax kraussiana var. morsoniana A.DC.
  • Smilax kraussiana var. senegambiae A.DC.
  • Smilax lessertiana A.DC.
  • Smilax morsaniana Kunth
  • Smilax mossambicensis Garcke
  • Smilax semiamplexicaulis Bojer
  • Smilax telfaireana Wall.
  • Smilax telfaireana Wall. ex A.DC.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.