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Bryonia dioica | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Cucurbitales |
Family: | Cucurbitaceae |
Genus: | Bryonia |
Species: | B. dioica
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Binomial name | |
Bryonia dioica
Jacq. non M.Bieb. non Bojer non Sessé & Moc.
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Bryonia dioica, known by the common names red bryony and white bryony, [1] also English mandrake or ladies' seal, [2] is a perennial climbing vine indigenous to Central and Southern Europe. It is a flowering plant in the cucumber family Cucurbitaceae with five-pointed leaves and blue or white flowers. The vine produces a red berry fruit.
Bryonia dioica is generally toxic to humans. Application of its juice to the skin produces inflammation with a rash or ulcers, and consumption of this juice causes intense gastrointestinal irritation including nausea and vomiting in small doses, and anxiety, paralysis, or death in larger amounts.[ citation needed]
The seed of this vine, by contrast, is safely edible, and finds use in Western Europe as an ingredient in starch dishes.[ citation needed]
The plant is sometimes used in herbalism. In medieval times, the plant was thought to be an antidote for leprosy. [2]
The root can be 75 cm (30 in) long and 75 mm (3.0 in) thick. John Gerard's Herball (1597) states that: "The Queen's chief surgeon, Mr. William Godorous, a very curious and learned gentleman, shewed me a root hereof that waied half an hundredweight, and of the bignes of a child of a yeare old." [2]
It can be used fresh at any time of the year. It can also be harvested in the autumn and be dried for later use.[ citation needed]