Bryonia is a genus of flowering plants in the gourd family. Bryony is its best-known common name. They are native to western Eurasia and adjacent regions, such as North Africa, the Canary Islands and South Asia.

thumb|right|Male flower of [[Bryonia alba|white bryony (B. alba)]]

Description and ecology

Bryonies are perennial, tendril-climbing, diclinous or dioecious herbs with palmately lobed leaves and flowers in axillary clusters. The fruit is a smooth, globular berry.

Bryonia is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), including the tortrix moth Phtheochroa rugosana (recorded on red bryony, B. dioica) and the cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae). The horticultural value contributes to formation of pest and crop damage by the food plant consumption.

Use by humans

Bryonies are occasionally grown in gardens, sometimes accidentally, sometimes deliberately so. Some species find use in herbal medicine. Generally however, these plants are poisonous, some highly so, and may be fatal if ingested. Cucurbitacin glycosides are primarily responsible for the plants' bitterness and emetic effects.

Variants of the plants' name, such as Bryony, are used in some cultures as female given names. They were quite popular in the 18th century.

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom named two ships HMS Bryony after the plant.

Species

thumb|right|The [[toxic berries of red bryony (B. dioica)]]

Twelve species are currently accepted by the USDA:

Ten of these are supported in a molecular-phylogenetic analysis:

The only English species, B. dioica (red bryony), grows in hedgerows as far north as Yorkshire.

  • Bryonia acuta <small>Desf.</small> (formerly sometimes included in B. cretica)
  • Bryonia alba <small>L.</small> &ndash; white bryony
  • Bryonia aspera <small>Steven ex Ledeb.</small>
  • Bryonia cretica <small>L.</small> &ndash; Cretan bryony
  • Bryonia dioica <small>Jacq.</small> &ndash; white or red bryony (formerly sometimes included in B. cretica)
  • Bryonia lappifolia <small>Vassilcz.</small>
  • Bryonia marmorata <small>E.M.A.Petit</small>
  • Bryonia melanocarpa <small>Nabiev</small>
  • Bryonia monoica <small>Aitch. & Hemsl.</small>
  • Bryonia multiflora <small>Boiss. & Heldr.</small>
  • Bryonia syriaca <small>Boiss.</small>
  • Bryonia verrucosa <small>Aiton</small>

thumb|A bryony with its dup-up root.

===Formerly placed here===<!-- list the names used when in Bryonia only if not the basionym -->

  • Many species of Cayaponia ("American bryonies")
  • Several species of Cucumis, Solena and Zehneria
  • Coccinia abyssinica<!-- (Lam.) Cogn. = "B. abyssinica Lam." -->
  • Corallocarpus epigaeus<!-- (Rottler) C.B.Clarke = "B. epigaea Rottler" -->
  • Diplocyclos palmatus<!-- (L.) C.Jeffrey = "B. laciniosa auct.", "B. palmata L." -->
  • Kedrostis africana<!-- (L.) Cogn. = "B. africana L." -->
  • Melothria pendula<!-- L. --> (as B. guadalupensis<!-- Spreng. -->)
  • Trichosanthes ovigera<!-- Blume --> (as B. cucumeroides<!-- Ser. -->)

See also

  • Bryonopsis (meaning "looks like bryony"), a now-invalid genus currently assigned to close (Diplocyclos) and somewhat more distant (Kedrostis) relatives of Bryonia

Footnotes

References

  • (2009): Siren SOS Germplasm Resources Information Network &ndash; Bryonia. Version of 2009-MAY-15. Retrieved 2010-APR-15.
  • 2009. Phylogeography of the ancient Eurasian medicinal plant genus Bryonia (Cucurbitaceae) inferred from nuclear and chloroplast sequences. Taxon 58(2): 550-560.
  • Dioscorides's Bruonia melaina is Bryonia alba, not Tamus communis, and an illustration labeled Bruonia melaina in the Codex Vindobonensis is Humulus lupulus not Bryonia dioica. pp.&nbsp;273–280. In: Pitrat, M., ed., Cucurbitaceae 2008, https://w3.avignon.inra.fr/dspace/handle/2174/218
  • Medicinal uses of Bryonia alba – Note: This is a historical document from the 1930s and may not be medically accurate today.
  • Bryonia cretica – flowers in Israel