Bryonia dioica Jacq. - syn.Bryonia cretica L. ssp.dioica (Jacq.)Tutin - Cucurbitaceae \\
red bryony, **Rotbeerige Zaunrübe**, Rote Zaunrübe, Heckenruebe, Falsche Alraune

Dioecious perennial herb with creeping branches, native to Europe  and North Africa; leaves palmately lobed; male or female flowers greenish-white; fruit a red berry. 

"Parts used: The dried tuberous taproot, harvested in early summer before the plants flower (bryonia root - Bryonia radix)... The purgative and emetic uses can no longer be justified in view of the risk of serious side effects." \\
[Medicinal Plants of the World. Ben-Erik Van Wyk and Michael Wink, Pretoria 2004, 72]

"The cucurbitacins in roots of Bryonia dioica and B. alba have been investigated. Both species contain the cucurbitacins E, B, I, D, J, K and L, the dihydrocucurbitacins E and B, and tetrahydrocucurbitacin I. The detection of certain cucurbitacin aglycones depends upon the date of harvest, the duration of storage and the methods used for extraction." \\
[Die Cucurbitacine in Bryonia alba und Bryonia dioica., Pohlmann, J., Phytochemistry, Vol.14(7), 1975, 1587-1589]

{{:bryonia_dioica_sturm.jpg}} \\
Bryonia dioica, Sturm, J.G., Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen (1796), p.64 \\
[[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryonia_dioica_Sturm64.jpg|wikimedia commons]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/public_domain|PD]]

{{http://www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at/Bilder/Lumix_80/P1190947.JPG}} \\
Bryonia dioica\\ © Rolf Marschner (2016),  
[[http://www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at/viewtopic.php?f=572&t=4565&p=4752| www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at]]