Climbers List |
Deciduous List |
Yam Family [Dioscoreaceae] |
Flowers: |
Berries: (poisonous) |
category
category
status
flower
morph
petals
stem
stem
toxicity
sex
25th Aug 2008, Trowbridge Quarry, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Climbing clockwise up a small tree trunk. |
22nd June 2009, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Ace-of-Spades shaped dark-green leaves laced with strings of light-green male flowers (which, unlike the female glowers, are in long panicles). |
1st Nov 2004, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
No leaves discernible. |
25th Aug 2008, Trowbridge Quarry, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Scrambling amongst Ivy leaves |
25th Aug 2008, Trowbridge Quarry, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves half dead. Climbing amongst Holly leaves. |
25th Aug 2008, Trowbridge Quarry, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Green and red berries amongst leaves belonging to Ivy, another climber. |
25th Aug 2008, Trowbridge Quarry, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The dark green, broad and shiny Ace-of-Spades leaves which are net-veined, the veins being highly curved. |
25th Aug 2008, Trowbridge Quarry, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
A ripe berry. |
4th June 2018, Sweeney Fen, Shropshire. | Photo: © Alison Lindsay |
The male flowers all in long flower spikes along the flowering stems. |
27th May 2012, hedge, Macclesfield Canal, Cheshire | Photo: © Anthony Skellern |
The male flowers, which differ from the female in that they are in long racemes and are the more numerous : six stamens and six green petals on flower 3-6mm across. (The female flowers are less frequent, have three 2-lobed recurved stigmas and are in more compact clusters). |
27th May 2012, hedge, Macclesfield Canal, Cheshire | Photo: © Anthony Skellern |
Six green stamens bearing cream-coloured pollen protrude beyond the opening. |
22nd June 2009, Silverdale, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowers are in pairs on short stalks which have very narrow short bracts. |
16th June 2009, Little Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowers have six lime-green satin petals shaped like isosceles triangles with bluntish ends. In the centre a bunch of six stamens protrude and splay outwards near their ends. Un-opened flower buds at top. Note that there are no sepals. |
16th June 2009, Little Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The six stamens are arranged as three inner plus three outer and bear yellow pollen on the ends. They contrast with the much darker glossy green leaves. |
31st May 2016, nr Gait Barrows, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Stems are ribbed / grooved (whichever is your fancy). The 6 anthers with yellow pollen. |
8th May 2009, Strickland, nr Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Bunches of mature reddish stems having white striations intertwining with themselves. The leaves are glossy and on very dark, almost black (hence the name) ribbed stems. |
16th June 2010, Great Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Unlike the male flowers, which are in long panicles, the female flowers are in compact bunches at the junction of a pair of leaves. |
16th June 2010, Great Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The female flowers are all green with a central stigma. |
16th June 2010, Great Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
There are six sterile stamens lacking pollen tucked around the central style which splits into three double-pronged curly stigmas. |
16th June 2010, Great Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Petals, six sterile stamens and a style with three bi-forked stigmas are all green at first. Short stubby hairs on sepal tube and leaves. |
18th June 2015, Little Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowers turning to creamy-green. Leaves almost translucent by transmitted light. |
18th June 2015, Little Orme, North Wales Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Petals matte, leaves shiny. |
18th June 2015, Little Orme, North Wales. | Photo: © RWD |
Female flower. Note that there are six short, barely protruding, vestigial infertile stamens lacking both anthers and pollen lying inside the six petals (actually tepals). |
31st May 2016, nr Gait Barrows, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Superficial resemblance to :
Lookee-Likees : The red berries and its climbing tendencies are similar to White Bryony, but unlike that, it twines clockwise. The leaves of Black Bryony are shaped like the Ace of Spades, whereas those of White Bryony have large long lobes. Uniquely identifiable characteristics: there is no other plant quite like this. Distinguishing Feature : Black Bryony has 6 petals (actually tepals), White Bryony only five. No relation to : White Bryony [a plant with similar name] which belongs to the Marrow Family [Cucurbitaceae], whereas Black Bryony belongs to the Yam Family. It is a climber which climbs clockwise around other structures, up to 3.5 metres high. It is a monocotyledon. Has both male and female flowers on the same plant, the male in long slender racemes, the female in closer clusters. The flowers are dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants, with the female flowers also having (much shorter) sterile stamens (without anthers) .
Black Bryony is poisonous due to calcium oxalate crystals found mainly in the red berries. The roots of the plant is also rich in saponins and a glycoside similar to that of In winter the trailing vines go brown and are left dangling from trees and other supports they have scrambled up.
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Tamus | communis | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Dioscoreaceae |
Tamus (Black Bryony) |
Yam Family [Dioscoreaceae] |