Jackson vine, Smilax smallii Morong., is an heirloom plant,
but don’t get too excited if you are from a rural area where you spent lots of
time playing outside roaming far and wide because it is also known as lanceleaf
greenbriar. At least is doesn’t have
as many if any spines, like most of the many other greenbriar species with unused spines that I have ran into. The way I know they were unused is that the spines were still sharp. One of the most common species is saw greenbriar, S. bona-nox L., which can be identified by having a few prickles under the leaf blade. A few species are variously known as carrionflowers, sasparilla vines, bamboo vine, or bindweed. The fruits, which only form on female plants, may take over
a year to mature. The vine climbs by use of stipules that are modified into tendrils. The new shoots of
greenbriers are reported to be eatable, but I tasted one, and found out that it
was not eat-able in my opinion due to being mucilaginous and leaving a bad aftertaste, and
the same goes for daylily, Hemerocallis L., flower buds.
The worst case would be having to eat either to keep from starving. William Bartram described how Seminole Indians made a refreshing jelly from honey and a processed byproduct from the roots of at least one species, but he listed a common name rather than a scientific so I'm not sure what species it is since the common is now applied to a species that in not native.