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Atropa bella-donna
Also called Belladonna, Dwale, Naughty Man's Cherries
Deadly nightshade is a branching perennial herb or subshrub from a fleshy rootstock, grown mainly for its tall habit and showy black berries. It is one of the most poisonous plants in temperate regions and should be grown only with great care around children and pets.
Atropa belladonna, commonly known as deadly nightshade or belladonna, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant. It is native to Europe and Western Asia, including Turkey, its distribution extending from England in the west to western Ukraine and the Iranian province of Gilan in the east. It is also naturalised or introduced in some parts of Canada, North Africa and the United States.
The foliage and berries are extremely toxic when ingested, containing tropane alkaloids. It can also be harmful to handle or touch these plants. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, which cause delirium and hallucinations, and are also used as pharmaceutical anticholinergics.
Atropa bella-donna is rarely grown in gardens, but, when grown, it is usually for its large upright habit and showy berries. Germination of the small seeds is often difficult, due to hard seed coats that cause seed dormancy. Germination takes several weeks under alternating temperature conditions, but can be sped up with the use of gibberellic acid. Seedlings require sterile soil to prevent damping off (weakening of seedlings by soil-borne pathogens).
Deadly nightshade is one of the most toxic plants known, and its use by mouth increases risk in numerous clinical conditions, such as complications of pregnancy, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and psychiatric disorders, among others. All parts of the plant contain tropane alkaloids; roots have up to 1.3%, leaves 1.2%, stalks 0.65%, flowers 0.6%, ripe berries 0.7%, and seeds 0.4% tropane alkaloids; leaves reach maximal alkaloid content when the plant is budding and flowering, roots are most poisonous in the end of the plant's vegetation period. The nectar is used by bees to make honey that also contains tropane alkaloids. The berries pose the greatest danger to children because they look attractive and have a somewhat sweet taste. The root of the plant is generally the most toxic part, though this can vary from one specimen to another.
The active agents in deadly nightshade, atropine, hyoscine (scopolamine), and hyoscyamine, have anticholinergic properties.
Atropa bella-donna is native across temperate southern, central and eastern Europe, northwestern Africa (Morocco and Algeria), and in southwest Asia in Turkey, Iran and the Caucasus. In the British Isles it is native only in England, where it grows on calcareous soils, on disturbed ground, field margins, hedgerows and open woodland; it is more widespread as an alien, including in Wales, Scotland, and also Ireland, where it is a relic of cultivation as a medicinal herb.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Atropa bella-donna by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
