8. Bryonia Linn., Sp. Pl. 1012. 1753. Gen. Pl. ed. 5.442. 1754; Boiss., Fl. Or. 2:760. 1872; Clarke in Hook. f.,Fl. Brit. Ind. 2:622. 1879; C. Jeffrey, Kew Bull. 23(3):
441-461. 1969.
S. NAZIMUDDIN AND S. SHAHARYAR H. NAQVI
Climbing herbs with perennial roots. Dioecious, rarely monoecious. Tendrils simple. Leaves 3-5-angled or palmately 3-5-lobed; petiolate. Flowers small, white or yellow, male flowers racemose or fasciculate; calyx tube broadly campanulate, segments oblong. Stamens 3, rarely 5, filaments free, short; anthers free or slightly coherent, broadly oblong, one 1-locular, the others 2-locular, loculi linear, curved, somewhat sigmoid, pistillode absent; female flowers corymbose or racemose, calyx and corolla as in the male, staminodes 3-5; ovary ovoid, style slender, 3-fid at the top, inserted on an annular disc; stigmas 3, 2-lobed, ovules numerous, horizontal, placentas 3. Fruit baccate, spherical, indehiscent, several to few-seeded. Seeds ovoid or oblong with thickened corrugated margin.
A genus of c. 12 species, distributed in Europe, Asia, North Africa & Canary Islands. Represented in Pakistan by the following 2 species.
