BRYONIA CRETICA subsp. CRETICA

Family and Genus:- See- CUCURBITACEAE

Common Name:- White bryony

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Bryonia (Gr) Sprouter.

Cretica (L) From Crete, Cretan

General description:- A tall climbing, hairy perennial, to 4 m, with coiled tendrils.

Stems:-

1) Up to 4 m, branched.

Leaves:-

1) 5-10 cm, ovate, cordate, 5-angled or palmately 5-lobed; lobes entire or with few,

large, subobtuse teeth, the central usually not markedly longer than the lateral.

Flowers:-

1) Greenish-white with darker veins, 10-18 mm, the female in small lateral clusters

the male in drooping racemes on separate plants.

2) Calyx of the female flowers usually about half that of the corolla.

3) Stigma, papillose hairy.

Fruit:-

1) A berry, green with white marks at first, becoming red when ripe, 6-10mm.

Key features:-

1) Male inflorescence eglandular or nearly so.

2) Leaves and young fruit with irregular whitish markings.

3) Always dioecious.

4) Stigma papillose-hairy.

5) Berry red, when ripe.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Damp scrubland vegetation and scrub, roadside thickets, coastal

habitats. 0-500(-900) m.

Distribution:- Rare and scattered on mainlad greece and Peloponnisos. -

Mediterranean region, mainly in the C & E parts. Fairly well scattered across Crete,

but more so to the east and west.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to early June

Photos by:- Steve Lenton