atlamol, Thanks, found out something I never knew.......Was born and raised in the swamps near Charleston.....Summerville to be exact, (Ashley and Edistow river swamps) and cannot recollect ever hearing of Chainey Briar......But I do know Smilax, and very well at that.

I did a bit of digging over the last few minutes, and have come to the conclusion that your Chainey Briar is probably (Smilax bona-nox, known by the common names saw greenbrier, zarzaparrilla,[2] catbrier, bullbrier, chinabrier), and your "Bamboo vine is probably another species of Smilax, or a variant known as ( Smilax pseudochina L. bamboo vine).

I've tangled with bona-nox, and the nasty little stinging caterpillars that live in it, but don't think I have ever seen anything like the Bamboo Vine to know it. It is supposed to be much rarer, So I'll blame that.

Thanks for adding a tid-bit to my memory bank.

Bil

Ah, many thanks! I've kicked around in the Low Country quite a bit, mostly in Francis Marion NF. Wife has kinfolks in Orangeburg and Columbia. My local (New Jersey) wild food foragers hear about chainey briar and ask me about it from time to time. I knew in a general sense what it was but not specifically. We don't get S. Bona-nox here. S. Walteri and S. Laurifolia are around in the South Jersey Pine Barrens, but not very common. Seems to me they all taste about the same.

I would have never thought of eating that stuff....there were a few times I probably would have if I had any any idea it was edible.

There is evidently a Chainey Briar stable in the Ridgeville area, and they have a plot of the briar planted for food......One of the Charleston chef's has also apparently slipped it into a few of his local "concoctions". May have to give that a try some day. I've been doing battle with the stuff in my yard for years, and its still winning. Maybe eating it will help.

Bill