A climbing plant with flexible branches, historically used to bind or tie things together because of its strong, pliable stems.
From Old English 'bera' (bear) and 'bindan' (to bind). The name likely refers to either a plant strong enough to restrain a bear, or one with bear-like roughness that binds well to other objects.
This is one of those forgotten plant names that reveals how our ancestors categorized nature through function and analogy—if something was strong and flexible like how you'd imagine wrestling with a bear, that's what you called it!
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