Smilax retroflexa (F. T. Wang & Tang) S. C. Chen

Subshrubs or shrubs, suberect, unarmed. Stem branched, to 1 m, smooth. Petiole 1--1.5 cm, widened toward base, abaxially striate-ridged, sometimes papillose distally, narrowly winged for ca. 1/3 its length; abscission zone subapical; tendrils absent. Leaf blade abaxially very glaucous, elliptic to ovate, 5--11 × 2--5.5 cm, abaxially glabrous. Inflorescence borne in axil of leaf or scalelike bract on young branches, of 1 umbel, basally not prophyllate; peduncle 2--4 cm; umbels of both sexes 3--20-flowered. Male flowers: tepals ca. 2 × 1 mm; stamens very short, ca. 1/4 as long as tepals; filaments basally connate, forming a short column ca. 0.2 mm. Berries subglobose, ca. 1 cm in diam.; carpopodium recurved. Fl. Apr, fr. Nov.

Guangxi, Guizhou, SW Sichuan, S Yunnan [Vietnam].

Forests, thickets, shady places along streams; 900--1700 m.

Smilax aberrans Gagnepain var. retroflexa F. T. Wang & Tang, Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 15: 254. 1978; S. aberrans subsp. retroflexa (F. T. Wang & Tang) T. Koyama.