VIne, with ball of very small white flowers. Sighted at 5,000 ft elevation in NC on the Blue Ridge parkway.
Hi Patricia,
this is a wonderful photo! It mystified me for a bit, but it appears to be either Smilax herbacea or Smilax pulverulenta, one of the herbaceous greenbriers, male flowers. I’ve never seen so many flowers in a head in this one, and the leaves are not in the picture. I asked Alan Weakley about it also, and he confirmed that it is one of the two Smilax species.
Sincerely,
Steve Hill, Ph.D, Botanist, SCNPS