See text Ripogonum (sometimes Rhipogonum) is a genus of flowering plants confined to eastern Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea.

Differences from Smilacaceae include that Ripogonum lacks stipules, it has a wet rather than dry stigma, its seeds and leaves contain starch, and its guard cells contain oil.

[5] In 1769, during explorer Lieutenant James Cook's first voyage of discovery, botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander collected specimens of "supplejack" (Ripogonum scandens) in New Zealand.

The species was described in Solander's unpublished manuscript Primitiae Florae Novae Zelandiae and was illustrated by Sydney Parkinson.

Which spelling is correct depends on the interpretation of Article 60 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, which recommends that the classical transcription rules should be followed when forming new names (Rec.

[16] Molecular phylogenetic studies since the early 2000s have consistently shown a close relationship between the four families Ripogonaceae, Philesiaceae, Smilacaceae and the modern narrowly defined Liliaceae.

[25] Known to the Māori of New Zealand as kareao or pirita, a concentrated decoction of the supplejack root has a sweetish sarsaparilla-like scent and flavour and is soothing to the throat.