Tamus
(the old Latin name used by Pliny). SYN. Tamnus. ORD. Dioscoreaceae. A small genus (two species) of greenhouse or hardy, tuberous rooted twiners; one is a native of the Canary Islands, and the other is broadly dispersed over Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia. Flowers dioecious; racemes axillary; males often elongated, loose, the flowers disposed in small, few-flowered racemes, or solitary and pedicellate at the sides of the rachis; females very short, few-flowered, sometimes reduced to a sessile fascicle. Berry sub-globose, succulent, indehiscent. Leaves alternate, cordate, entire or three-lobed. T. communis is the only species calling for description here. It thrives in any ordinary soil, and may be increased by divisions of the root; or by seeds, raised in a cold frame.
T. communis (common). Black Bryony; Lady's Seal; Murrain Berries, &c. fl. 1/6in. in diameter; female racemes 1in. shorter than the males, recurved, few-flowered. May and June. fr. red, oblong, 1/2in. long. l. ovate-cordate, acuminate, 2in. to 3in. long, on long petioles, obscurely laterally lobed, five to seven-nerved, the tips bristly; stipules reflexed. Stem many feet long, angular, branched. Rootstock ovoid, black, fleshy. Europe (Britain), &c. (Sy. En. B. 1508.)