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Greenbrier, Smilax, Catbrier

Smilax spp. (accepted: Smilax) · Smilacaceae · all Smilax records

Your local evidence lens

Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Highly flammable — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
No test or rating condition is normalized.
Fire ecology context
No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence
0 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
North Carolina; Ohio / Midwest
Maintenance
No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.
Typed publication scope: 2 scopes across 2 cited fire sources
  • Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) · Official scoped edition
    • NC; complete normalized coverage · 2025-03-26

      The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.

  • Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
    • OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01

      Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in OH.
Native range
The legacy compatibility field lists OH in native range; its field-level source was not retained.
Introduced / established
No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
USDA hardiness
No hardiness value is normalized.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status
Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status
Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here
No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context
Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context
Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.
How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Greenbrier, Smilax, Catbrier (Smilax spp.)
Photo: (c) Tom Norton, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.
Form
vine
Legacy native field
OH · field-level source not retained
Grows in
OH
Rated in
North Carolina; Ohio / Midwest
Family
Smilacaceae
Evidence
2 cited sources

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Avoids (2)

Fire-resistant vines instead

Trumpet vine
Campsis radicans Virginia creeper
Parthenocissus quinquifolia Fragrant honeysuckle
Lonicera sempervirens Goldflame Honeysuckle
Lonicera x heckrottii Hops
Humulus lupulus Yellow passionflower
Passiflora lutea

Fire-resistant vines listed above

Same genus in the directory · the Smilax group page

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · ITIS

Smilax spp. (Greenbrier, Smilax, Catbrier). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/smilax/. Last verified 2026-08-23.