0575 



BLACK BRYONY 



Family: SMILACEAE. [Translator's note: now in family Discoreaceae.] 

 Reproductive system: DlOECY, HEXANDRY. 



The black bryony, Tamus communis, LINN., is a very common plant in woodlands 

 around Paris. The stems are smooth, frail, and four or five feet high. They twine around 

 adjoining plants. The leaves are alternate, heart-shaped, pointed, and veined. They have a 

 soft consistency and their petioles have two small stipules at the base. The male flowers 

 and female flowers are on separate plants. The small, yellowish male flowers are in loose, 

 axillary clusters. Their calyx is bell-shaped, divided into six parts at the top, and encloses 

 six stamens. The female flowers have an adherent ovary, a single style, and three 

 stigmata; the fruit is a berry with three compartments. 



FLOWERS: from May until August. 



RANGE: woodlands and hedges in a large part of France. 



NOMENCLATURE. German, schwarzwurzel, schmeerwurz. Dutch, vrouwenzegel, 

 wilde ofzwarte bryonie. English, the common tamus, or black bryony. Italian, brionia 

 neyra. Portuguese, norqapreta. Commonly, the Our Lady's seal Virgin's root, battered 

 wife 's root. 



USES. The root is very big. It's used in the veterinary arts. In medicine it's 

 considered to be a resolutive and a vulnerary. It's scraped and crushed and applied as a 

 poultice on the injured areas of contusions and bruises. It's a component in several 

 medications. 



CULTIVATION. This plant is cultivated only in botanical and pharmaceutical 

 institutes. In a garden 



