1. Berchemia scandens (Hill) K. Koch (supple-jack, rattan vine)

Pl. 522 h, i; Map 2393

Plants lianas, lacking tendrils. Stems to 30 m or more long, branched, twining, tough and flexible, the bark at first green and smooth, becoming gray or brown with age and developing fine, pale, longitudinal streaks as well as scattered, raised lenticels and branch scars in cross lines, the branches not spine-tipped. Twigs green to reddish brown, glabrous, the leaf scars mostly peglike, the winter buds small, ovate, flattened, with a few overlapping scales. Leaves alternate, short-petiolate. Leaf blades 2–6 cm long, usually somewhat leathery, ovate, oval, or oblong to narrowly oblong, angled or rounded at the base, slightly tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins entire or slightly wavy, sometimes with scattered, minute, blunt teeth, the upper surface glabrous, green, shiny, the undersurface glabrous, pale green, not shiny, the venation pinnate with a single midvein and 8–12(–16) pairs of lateral veins. Inflorescences terminal and often also axillary, of loose clusters or small panicles. Flowers apparently perfect (but apparently functionally staminate or pistillate). Hypanthium minute, 1–2 mm in diameter at fruiting. Sepals 5, 1–2 mm long, triangular. Petals 5, 1.0–1.5 mm long, greenish yellow. Stamens 5. Ovary 2-locular, the style short, unbranched. Fruits drupes, 5–8 mm long, oblong-ellipsoid, with 2 stones, the outer surface thin, leathery, bluish black, glaucous. May–June.

Scattered in the southern portion of the Ozark Division and the Mississippi Lowlands (southeastern U.S. west to Missouri and Texas; Mexico, Central America). Glades, openings of dry upland forests,bottomland forests, swamps, and bases of bluffs; also roadsides.

As noted by Steyermark (1963), Kurz (1997), and others, this species is remarkable in its ability to survive in habitats with drastically different moisture levels, from the driest Ozark glades to the wettest Bootheel swamps. The most robust plants occur in bottomland forests and swamps in southeastern Missouri, where stems can reach diameters of 18 cm (Foote and Jones, 1989). Kurz (1997) noted that the twining stems can eventually girdle and kill trees upon which they grow.