CUCURBITACEAE
The Gourd family is primarily tropical, making our single native species a fascinating botanical outlier in the Lancing landscape.
White Bryony
Bryonia dioicaRecorded: 14 June 2004, Lancing Ring
Vital Stats: Climbing height of 2-4 metres. Flowering period from May to September.
White Bryony is a vigorous perennial climber, using its distinctive spiralling tendrils to haul itself through the hedgerows of the Ring. Despite its name, it is unrelated to Black Bryony.
Ecological Niche: As Britain's only native member of the Cucumber family, it brings a touch of exotic architecture to our downland scrub. Its greenish-white flowers are a crucial nectar source for specialist bees, such as the Bryony Mining Bee (Andrena florea), which visits no other plant. This illustrates the high degree of interdependence found in the Lancing Ring biodiversity.