The plant is poisonous.
Application
Gallberry has been used to treat cold limbs and rheumatic pain. The plant has a strong laxative, diaphoretic and causes violent vomiting. In the Middle Ages it was considered a powerful remedy for expelling evil from the body.
Externally, it was used against boils, unclean wounds, dead flesh, ringworm, etc. Medieval sources also mention other uses: against epilepsy, and a tampon of the root placed in the vagina could expel dead fetuses and the afterbirth. In Russia, the plant was used to provoke abortions.
The white milky juice of the root was considered particularly effective. The top of the beet-like root was cut off at the ground level, hollowed it out a little and the top was put back in place. After that, the juice could be tapped from the root with a spoon for a period of time. The juice was used against, for example, intestinal worms.
In folk medicine, gallberries were used to treat constipation and dropsy, and as an ingredient in ointments for gout. It was also said that anyone who carried the root on their person would be immune to any illness.
Ingestion of the berries causes bile to flow in the form of vomiting, sweating and diarrhea, hence the name gallberry. The sap from the plant can cause skin irritation.
Ingredients
The entire plant, especially the roots and berries, contains poisonous glycosides, including the bitter-tasting bryonin and bryoidin, terpenes and saponins, as well as the alkaloid bryonicin.
The lethal dose for children is only about 15 berries.
Bryonia alba L.
Photo of page in Joachim Burser's herbarium.
