Bryonia dioica

Bryonia dioica, known by the common names red bryony and white bryony,^[1] also English mandrake or ladies' seal,^[2] is a perennial climbing vine indigenous to Central and Southern Europe. It is a flowering plant in the cucumber family Cucurbitaceae with five-pointed leaves and blue or white flowers. The vine produces a red berry fruit.

Bryonia 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.^{[citation needed ]}

The seed of this vine, by contrast, is safely edible, and finds use in Western Europe as an ingredient in starch dishes.^{[citation needed ]}

The plant is sometimes used in herbalism. In medieval times, the plant was thought to be an antidote for leprosy.^[2]

The root can be 75 cm (30 in) long and 75 mm (3.0 in) thick. John Gerard's Herball (1597) states that: "The Queen's chief surgeon, Mr. William Godorous, a very curious and learned gentleman, shewed me a root hereof that waied half an hundredweight, and of the bignes of a child of a yeare old."^[2]

It can be used fresh at any time of the year. It can also be harvested in the autumn and be dried for later use.^{[citation needed ]}

• Flowers of Bryonia dioica
  Flowers of Bryonia dioica

• Cucurbitoideae
• Edible nuts and seeds
• Medicinal plants of Europe

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