Smilax pulverulentaMichx.

downy carrionflower

WFO wfo-0000741722 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. a Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-20 / obs. 199312859
Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. b Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198605571
Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. c Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 196833275
Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Bonnie Semmling
fig. d Bonnie Semmling, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 127612397
Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Zihao Wang
fig. e Zihao Wang, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169293284
Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Alison Northup
fig. f Alison Northup, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194699858
Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Kristi Zoebelein
fig. g Kristi Zoebelein, CC0 1.0 / obs. 196423357
Smilax pulverulenta, photographed by Emily Summerbell
fig. h Emily Summerbell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194922672

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 17 botanical countries

Regions where Smilax pulverulenta is native: Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia ArkansasIllinoisIndianaKentuckyMarylandMinnesotaMissouriNebraskaNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaPennsylvaniaTennesseeVirginiaWest Virginia DelawareDistrict of Columbia
Native distribution of Smilax pulverulenta, 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
Arkansas ARK NORTHERN AMERICA
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Kentucky KTY
Maryland MRY
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Nebraska NEB
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Pennsylvania PEN
Tennessee TEN
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA

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 2 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.

  • Nemexia pulverulenta (Michx.) Small
  • Smilax herbacea var. pulverulenta (Michx.) A.Gray

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.