White Bryony - Bryonia dioica - Hvít Bryonía - Cucurbitaceae - Graskeraætt - Villijurt - Eiturflækja - Eiturjurt og illgresi. Eiturjurt - Eitruð planta - Toxic Herbs - Poisonous Plants - Kvenkyns blóm eru grænleit og berin rauð. White Bryony is Britain’s only native member of the cucumber family. Bryonia is a genus of flowering plant in the gourd family. Bryony is its best-known common name. This hedgerow climber is such a strong laxative that, even in the 16th century, its unrestrained medicinal use was not recommended. Those men who bought bryony root, thinking it to be mandrake, may have been 'up all night' but not in the way they'd hoped.
As an example of how large the root grows, John Gerard says that the Queen’s surgeon, William Goderous, showed him a root weighing half a hundredweight and the size of a one year old child. This vigorous root growth meant it could be used to produce a counterfeit mandrake root. Either by placing moulds around the growing plant or by digging it up, carving it to shape and reburying it, bryony roots can be made to look like mandrake and the plant was sold as mandrake by ‘mountebacks and charlatans’ according to at least one contemporary writer. Sadly, it is not clear whether the author was so appalled because these fakers cut into his profits from growing real mandrake or whether he had fallen victim to the unpleasant effects. See more: [ Ссылка ]
Bryonia - known by the common names red bryony and white bryony, is a perennial climbing vine indigenous to Central and Southern Europe. It is a flowering plant of the genus Bryonia with five-pointed leaves and blue or white flowers. The vine produces a red berry fruit. B. 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. See more: [ Ссылка ]
From the Greek bryo, to shoot or grow rapidly, a reference to its vigorous growing habit of sprouting each year from the tuber roots. Dioscorides however calls it ‘Bruonia Ampelos’. Bruonia is Greek for ‘to swell’ and ‘Ampelos’ means ‘vine’. It is possible that this refers to the exceptionally large roots which the plant forms. This hedgerow climber is such a strong laxative that, even in the 16th century, its unrestrained medicinal use was not recommended. Those men who bought bryony root, thinking it to be mandrake, may have been 'up all night' but not in the way they'd hoped. As an example of how large the root grows, John Gerard says that the Queen’s surgeon, William Goderous, showed him a root weighing half a hundredweight and the size of a one year old child. This vigorous root growth meant it could be used to produce a counterfeit mandrake root. Either by placing moulds around the growing plant or by digging it up, carving it to shape and reburying it, bryony roots can be made to look like mandrake and the plant was sold as mandrake by ‘mountebacks and charlatans’ according to at least one contemporary writer. Sadly, it is not clear whether the author was so appalled because these fakers cut into his profits from growing real mandrake or whether he had fallen victim to the unpleasant effects. See more: [ Ссылка ]
