70 RED 'BERRIED BRYONY. 



significant of its rapid growth ; and we have 

 scarcely any wild plant which increases so fast 

 as this. In the autumn its branches are 

 covered with clusters of deep red berries. 



The root of this is very large, white, and 

 branched. Gerarde says of one in his time, 

 " The queen's chief chkurgeon. Master William 

 Goodorous, showed me a root hereof, that waied 

 halfe an hundred waighte, and of the bignesse 

 of a childe of a yeere old." It is very acrid 

 in its properties, and is often scraped and 

 applied to the limb affected with rheumatism, 

 when it causes a stinging sensation in the 

 skin, similar to that produced by the nettle. 

 The whole plant abounds with an acrid foetid 

 juice. Frequent as it is in England, it is not 

 a common plant in Scotland ; and it seems 

 doubtful whether it is indigenous to that 

 country. It is said that the goat is the only 

 quadruped which will eat this plant. It is the 

 only British plant belonging to the Gourd 

 Tribe. 



