Scientific name: Tamus communis L.
Common name: Black Bryony
Description
Habit: Climbing, hairless perennial herb with a large underground tuber; stems up to 4m(-5m) long, longitudinally striate, sometimes branched.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, entire, petiolate, stipulate, broadly ovate, strongly cordate, dark shining green, 5-15 x 4-11cm, with 3-9 curved and branched veins.
Flowers: Dioecious; actinomorphic; in loose axillary, simple or branched racemes of about 15-20 flowers, yellowish-green, very small, 3-6mm across; perianth of 6 tepals united only at base; male flowers stalked, with 6 stamens; female flowers, stalkless, with an inferior ovary bearing 1 style topped by 3, 2-lobed stigmas.
Fruits: Pale to bright red berry, rarely yellowish, 10-13mm across.
Habitat: Woodlands. Known only from woodlands around Lough Gill and hedges near Armagh, Cookstown and Ballyvaughan.
Native status: Not Native
Of conservation interest: No