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Black Bryony
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Dioscoreales
Family:	Dioscoreaceae
Genus:	Tamus
Species:	T. communis
Binomial name
Tamus communis L.

Black Bryony (Tamus communis, syn. Dioscorea communis (L.) Caddick & Wilkin) is a flowering plant, in the yam family Dioscoreaceae, native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia.

Growth

It is a climbing herbaceous plant growing to 2-4 m tall, with twining stems. The leaves are spirally arranged, heart-shaped, up to 10 cm long and 8 cm broad, with a petiole up to 5 cm long. It is dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The flowers are individually inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, 3-6 mm diameter, with six petals; the male flowers produced in slender 5-10 cm racemes, the female flowers in shorter clusters. The fruit is a bright red berry, 1 cm diameter. Its fairly large tuber is, like the rest of the plant, poisonous.

References

1. Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-40170-2.
2. Flora Europaea: Tamus communis distribution Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, United Kingdom(2008).