Page:Floras Lexicon-1840.djvu/62



RYONY. . Class 21,. Order:. The name Bryony, and the botanical one, , are derived from a Greek word meaning to push forth, or grow rapidly. The root grows to an enormous size; in former times of ignorance and superstition, cunning impostors made use of it in their pretended miraculous doings, and sometimes artfully contrived to make the root grow sufficiently like the human figure to be supposed a magical resemblance. They effected this by placing a mould of the shape required round the roots of a healthy young Bryony plant, fastened with wires; and such is the rapid growth of the root, that the image would be formed in one summer.