(Atropa belladonna)
Also known as nightshade. Folk names include bane wort, fair lady, and Witch's berry. It is also fascinating to note that this particular plant was referred to as 'the mandrake of Hecate.' Both Mandragora, the classic mandrake, and Atropa belladonna come from the nightshade family (Solanacene), which they share with other plants such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, tobacco, and chili peppers. The nightshade is a native plant to the Mediterranean and Eurasia. It is also sacred to the triple goddess Hecate.
This herbaceous perennial has red stem sap and solitary trumpet-shaped purple flowers that blossom from mid-summer through autumn.
This perennial is described as short-lived and may reach heights of up to five feet. In the past, an extract of the belladonna plant was used to dilate the eyes; this was through to make a woman look more beautiful. This practice is not recommened today.
The botanical name for this plamt, Atropa belladonna, may be linked to one of the three goddesses of Fate, also called the Norns. One goddess wove the strand of each person's live, another sister measured it, and the third cut the strand when the mortal's life was to be ended. Atropos is the name of the goddess that snips the thread of life. How every appropriate.
In the language of flowers, deadly nightshade whispers of fascination and Witchcraft. Magickal associations are varied; this plant was once used in charms to encourage visions (because of its hallucinogenic properties, I'm sure). It will also protect against evil and manipulative magick. Atropa belladonna is also thought to have the ability to make you forget your old flame. Classified as a feminine plant, its astrological influence is Saturn. The elemental association is water. Belladonna is thought to be the its most powerfulo at Beltane.
Warning: Subject ot legal restrictions in many countries. All parts of this plant are extremely poisonous and should be handled with extreme caution. Do not take internally.
[From:Ellen Dugan's "Garden Witch's Herbal" ]
Description---The root is thick, fleshy and whitish, about 6 inches long, or more, and branching. It is perennial. The purplishcoloured stem is annual and herbaceous. It is stout, 2 to 4 feet high, undivided at the base, but dividing a little above the ground into three - more rarely two or four branches, each of which again branches freely.
The leaves are dull, darkish green in colour and of unequal size, 3 to 10 inches long, the lower leaves solitary, the upper ones in pairs alternately from opposite sides of the stem, one leaf of each pair much larger than the other, oval in shape, acute at the apex, entire and attenuated into short petioles.
First-year plants grow only about 1 1/2 feet in height. Their leaves are often larger than in full-grown plants and grow on the stem immediately above the ground. Older plants attain a height of 3 to 5 feet, occasionally even 6 feet, the leaves growing about 1 to 2 feet from the ground.
The whole plant is glabrous, or nearly so, though soft, downy hairs may occur on the young stems and the leaves when quite young. The veins of the leaves are prominent on the under surface, especially the midrib, which is depressed on the upper surface of the leaf.
The fresh plant, when crushed, exhales a disagreeable odour, almost disappearing on drying, and the leaves have a bitter taste, when both fresh and dry.
The flowers, which appear in June and July, singly, in the axils of the leaves, and continue blooming until early September, are of a dark and dingy purplish colour, tinged with green, large (about an inch long), pendent, bell-shaped, furrowed, the corolla with five large teeth or lobes, slightly reflexed. The five-cleft calyx spreads round the base of the smooth berry, which ripens in September, when it acquires a shining black colour and is in size like a small cherry. It contains several seeds. The berries are full of a dark, inky juice, and are intensely sweet, and their attraction to children on that account, has from their poisonous properties, been attended with fatal results. Lyte urges growers 'to be carefull to see to it and to close it in, that no body enter into the place where it groweth, that wilbe enticed with the beautie of the fruite to eate thereof.' And Gerard, writing twenty years later, after recounting three cases of poisoning from eating the berries, exhorts us to 'banish therefore these pernicious plants out of your gardens and all places neare to your houses where children do resort.' In September, 1916, three children were admitted to a London hospital suffering from Belladonna poisoning, caused, it was ascertained, from having eaten berries from large fruiting plants of Atropa Belladonna growing in a neighbouring public garden, the gardener being unaware of their dangerous nature, and again in 1921 the Norwich Coroner, commenting on the death of achild from the same cause, said that he had had four not dissimilar cases previously.
It is said that when taken by accident, the poisonous effects of Belladonna berries may be prevented by swallowing as soon as possible an emetic, such as a large glass of warm vinegar or mustard and water. In undoubted cases of this poisoning, emetics and the stomach-pump are resorted to at once, followed by a dose of magnesia, stimulants and strong coffee, the patient being kept very warm and artificial respiration being applied if necessary. A peculiar symptom in those poisoned by Belladonna is the complete loss of voice, together with frequent bending forward of the trunk and continual movements of the hands and fingers, the pupils of the eye becoming much dilated.
Its deadly character is due to the presence of an alkaloid, Atropine, 1/10 grain of which swallowed by a man has occasioned symptoms of poisoning. As every part of the plant is extremely poisonous, neither leaves, berries, nor root should be handled if there are any cuts or abrasions on the hands. The root is the most poisonous, the leaves and flowers less so, and the berries, except to children, least of all. It is said that an adult may eat two or three berries without injury, but dangerous symptoms appear if more are taken, and it is wiser not to attempt the experiment. Though so powerful in its action on the human body, the plant seems to affect some of the lower animals but little. Eight pounds of the herb are said to have been eaten by a horse without causing any injury, and an ass swallowed 1 lb. of the ripe berries without any bad results following. Rabbits, sheep, goats and swine eat the leaves with impunity, and birds often eat the seeds without any apparent effect, but cats and dogs are very susceptible to the poison.
From: http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/n/nighde05.html
Wow...those berries even look scary.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting stuff.