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Portrait of White bryony

Nature · Ferns, grasses & other plants

White bryony

Native · flowers May–August, berries autumn and winter · climber to 4 m · hedgerows, mainly southern and eastern England

Bryonia dioica — Cucurbitaceae

White bryony is a tendril-climbing hedgerow plant with rough, five-lobed leaves, small greenish flowers and clusters of red berries that can hang on into winter, sometimes frosted. It is Britain's only native member of the cucumber family, and it is highly poisonous, especially the large root. Its swollen roots were once carved into human shapes and sold as fake mandrake. It is easily confused with black bryony and, at a glance, with hop or vine.

How to spot them

  • ▸Rough, palmate leaves with five lobes, alternating along the stem, rather like a small vine or ivy leaf
  • ▸Curling tendrils opposite the leaves, by which it scrambles up hedges
  • ▸Small, greenish-white, five-petalled flowers May to August, male and female on separate plants
  • ▸Clusters of orange-red berries in autumn, lasting into winter
  • ▸Look-alike: black bryony has smooth, glossy, heart-shaped leaves and no tendrils; hop has opposite, three- to five-lobed leaves and no tendrils

How to know it

The only British native in the cucumber family, this climber's root is highly poisonous, sometimes fatally to cattle

White bryony — Cucurbitaceae.

Its large root was carved into human-shaped figures and sold as false mandrake

White bryony — the fraud is recorded by the Wildlife Trusts.

Rough five-lobed leaves and coiling tendrils, with orange-red berries frosted over in winter

White bryony.

Male and female flowers grow on separate plants, hence its species name meaning 'two houses'

White bryony — dioica.

Distinguished from a similarly named climber by tendrils and lobed leaves, and from the hop by alternate leaves

White bryony — Bryonia dioica.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Safety: the plant is highly poisonous; the roots are especially toxic, and cattle that eat them despite their bitter taste can die
  • •Its red berries and its resemblance to hop, vine and black bryony make misidentification a poisoning risk; do not eat any unidentified climber's fruit or shoots
  • •Flowers May–August; berries orange-red, seen covered in frost through winter
  • •Grows to about 4 m; primarily in southern and eastern England
  • •Only native British member of Cucurbitaceae, the cucumber, marrow and melon family
  • •The roots were carved into human-like shapes and sold as mandrake, a Mediterranean plant valued for its medicinal properties
  • •Tendrils reverse their direction of coil midway along their length, a trait of the cucumber family
  • •Unrelated to black bryony, which is a yam relative without tendrils

Drill it — 6 cards

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Sources