Re: Sarsparilla
Dear David--
I think someone in Corfu must have been playing a joke on you. My
husband and I plus some unlucky houseguests spent two weeks last June
hacking away at thick braids of wire-strength sarsparilla fronds that
had overtaken a small copse of youngish oak-trees on our land. Believe
me it can be a menace. I hate to think what it might do in your
climate.
Yes the shoots are quite good (local name "ovriEs") to eat but not
nearly as good as wild asparagus ("sparAngia") that some people confuse
it with.
Sorry about that
Cali Doxiadis
Corfu, Greece
Da
vid Poole wrote:
>
> Earlier this year, I was sent a very odd looking seedling, barely an
> inch high. Seed had been collected in Corfu the previous autumn and a
> few plants of this, together with an as yet unidentified Yucca arose
> from late winter sowings. At first it was difficult to identify, but
> as its leaves developed it became apparent that this is Smilax aspera
> 'Maculata' a lightly variegated form of 'Prickly Ivy' or
> 'Sarsparilla'.
>
> The glossy, unequally heart shaped, leathery leaves with their
> accompanying pair of tendrils at the base of the petiole are lightly
> mottled with paler green in a most attractive fashion. Does anyone
> know whether this form is a geographical variant more commonly found
> in the eastern mediterranean or does it occur sporadically throughout
> its range?
>
> After a rather slow start where the initial shoot struggled to about
> three inches high, a second, more vigorous shoot appeared from the
> rootstock which given support, has scrambled to over 2 feet in a very
> few weeks. I understand that the young shoots are also eaten like
> asparagus. I've yet to decide whether to plant this in a 'wild area'
> or give it a more 'select' position. I suspect it will be happier
> growing in the thin, rubbly soil of my dump area where it can drape
> itself over the various shrubs growing there.
>
> Dave Poole
> TORQUAY UK
