The verdict is in -- nearly all are S. auriculata
After collecting a number of these observations of "elliptical-leaved" Smilax, I'm convinced that nearly all are Smilax auriculata. The conspicuous lateral veins distinguish them from S. laurifolia (and the leaves are smaller). Several examples collected here show a mixture of the elliptical leaves and the more standard "eared" leaves on the same plant (a good illustration is https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19872386).
I have seen specimens of Smilax havanensis (extreme south Florida) that lack spines on the leaves and look very similar, but the observations in this project range all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from North Carolina to Mississippi, most of them well out of range for S. havanensis.
Mine are all empirical observations. I haven't looked closely at the literature to see if this elliptical-leaved form of Smilax auriculata has been formally described.
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nice project and investigation. I still find this very intriguing, especially the similarity to S. havanensis. the strict coastline distribution is especially interesting. if this morph of S. auriculata is generally dependent on very sandy or maritime type habitat, are there any observations of 'transitionary' individuals located more inland or in ecotones that share features with ordinary S. auriculata? that probably would be the best evidence these are only the product of morphological variation and not representative of some overlooked/unnamed entity. I still can't shake the idea these oddities could be Smilax auriculata's version of Smilax bona-nox var. littoralis situation...
Sure, the elliptical ones could be some specific variant. I'm aware of the Smilax bona-nox var. littoralis, but I have never worked to set those apart from the "regular" ones. I'm fairly convinced they are not genetic variants but are often found mixed on a plant. But haven't taken any numeric data on it. So many questions, so little time!
indeed! also noticing that within the project there seems to be a considerable difference between generally normal-looking S. auriculata with more elliptic leaves (typically inland) and the actual consistent morph with mucronate tips, bright veins, and somewhat diminished leaves (only coastal). I'm gonna be looking into this more extensively too, since these are plentiful on the NW FL coastline.
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