#smilax

Ik people r worried abt smilax and crocus being a love trianlge but... hera me out,

what if... platonic??

like ikkk u probably r setting up a love triangle or a love triangle fake-out but what if?? And ik u've said somewhere that it's not meant to be myth-accurate and it's just something u like working on so like maybe??

And ik he's blushing an awful lot lmaoaoaoaoaoao but maybe he's just embarassed bc lowkey i would too maybe he's just easily flustered like i become one with tomato when people ask me about crushes lololol

also speaking of not myth-accurate, give crocus a happy ending i begggg

anyway love ur work and can't wait for the next one!!!!!

Yay! I'm delighted that you liked episode 5 <3 I worked very hard on it hahaha.

About Crocus and Smilax...

Only the author knows what the author knows >:) But you're right, FFtMG is definitely more like an illustrated fanfic than a myth-accurate literary masterpiece, so your theory is definitely not out of the realm of possibility...

As for the happy ending, I confessed right from episode one that I'm a wuss who's only chucking bricks (because buildings are too heavy). So there won't really be a focus on Crocus' death if that's what you're worried about!

I honestly should have posted this sooner...Oh well, here's some free angst and Smilax conpect!

Smilax aspera L., Smilacaceae

2.11.2017, Wasserleitung Janoula, Parnitha, Attika

Along the banks of a creek sandstone scour near auxier ridge in RRG.

A lot is going on in these two pictures but the right picture is my favorite out of the two. My first time seeing Plantago rugellii in person, it’s supposed to be common but P. major was often reported and noted down as P. rugellii, so im not sure if it’s rare or common. Here is the map for the toothed broad leaf plantain, the other species P. major can be lobed but the lobes are round and the leaf is usually entire. The other species in the second picture that was really cool is a riparian creeping Rubus spp. that looks like a Virginia creeper vine at first glance until you see prickles! Rubus rivularis, I only know it from one other site in Ohio along the Ohio River in Clermont(only place in Ohio known). So double wammy for sure. Below is map for P. rugellii

The yellow passionflower is growing right next to a saw greenbrier, and the passionflower's leaves now have the same color markings on the leaves that the saw greenbrier does. Yellow passionflower normally has solid colored leaves, and last year they weren't like this.

I made a tag "Smilax/Passiflora Teamup" where all the observations I make of these two plants will go in the future.

Would you guess, from looking at this picture, that it's two different species growing in the middle? Because I didn't even notice until my twin pointed it out.

[ID: A photograph of a saw greenbrier and yellow passionflower plant growing together, both with the same medium green colored leaves that are spotted with lighter green in random splotches, with the only difference being their shapes.

The yellow passionflower has leaves with three rounded lobes, and the saw greenbrier's leaves are shaped like a rounded letter T.

The ground below them is covered in brown dead leaves, with some more greenbrier visible in the distant background.

End ID.]

Maybe gulf fritillary butterflies have a harder time finding the yellow passionflower when the leaves look like this?

by John Wenzel

The genus Smilax is one of our most common woodland plants. Known as greenbriar, sweetbriar, or catbriar, there are about 20 species in North America, and about 300 world-wide. Technically, the plant is defended by “prickles,” which are outgrowths of the outer tissue of the stem, and not “thorns,” which are modified woody branches, as are found on hawthorn or locust trees. By contrast, “spines,” as found in cactuses, are actually modified leaves. Male and female Smilax flowers occur on different plants, with females producing dense bunches of showy black, blue, or red berries. Some species are deciduous and some are evergreen. Light loving, they are typical of disturbed habitats, and will climb up and over shrubs, up to 30 feet high. The green stems have chlorophyll, meaning that even if deer eat all the leaves, the plants will continue to photosynthesize and survive.

Thickets of briars that have their tops bitten off are an indication of severe browsing by deer. When deer densities are high, other plants may be browsed out entirely, leaving behind an understory composed of only briars and a few plants deer do not eat, such as ferns. Briars may provide good cover for small mammals to escape from larger predators, as is related in Uncle Remus’ African folktales of Bre’r Rabbit. The stout prickles have different orientations along a stem and can be difficult to remove if more than one pierces the skin at the same time. Getting into (and out of!) a briar thicket is a very sticky situation, as we have inadvertently demonstrated after a minor slip-and-fall in the woods!