Atropa bella-donna
Atropa bella-donna, 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 and/or touch these plants. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, which cause delirium and hallucinations, and are also used as pharmaceutical anticholinergics. Tropane alkaloids are of common occurrence not only in the Old World tribes Hyoscyameae and Mandragoreae, but also in the New World tribe Datureae—all of which belong to the subfamily Solanoideae of the plant family Solanaceae.
Consumption of Atropa bella-donna has unpredictable effects. The antidote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine or pilocarpine, the same as for atropine.
The highly toxic ripe fruit can be distinguished from that of black nightshade by its larger berry size and larger stellate calyx and the fact that A. bella-donna bears its berries singly, whilst S. nigrum bears spherical berries resembling tiny tomatoes in umbellate clusters.
Name
As with most names in biology, the scientific name differs from the common name. The common name of this plant is deadly nightshade or simply belladonna. The name entered English when John Gerard used it in his illustrated Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, first published in 1597, displacing dwale as the English common name for this plant. The English translation of 1633 was seen as the best and most exhaustive work of its kind and a standard reference for some time.Its correct scientific name is hyphenated bella-donna. In his original description, Linnaeus called it Atropa bella donna with a space between 'bella' and 'donna', and this space is treated by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants as an error to be replaced by a hyphen.
History
Atropa bella-donna has a long history of use as a medicine, cosmetic, and poison. Known originally under various folk names, the plant was named Atropa bella-donna by Carl Linnaeus when he devised his classification system. Linnaeus chose the genus name Atropa because of the poisonous properties of these plants. Atropos, one of the Three Fates in Greek mythology, is said to have cut a person's thread of life after her sisters had spun and measured it. Linnaeus chose the species name bella-donna in reference to the cosmetic use of the plant during the Renaissance.Extracts of plants in the deadly nightshade family have been in use since at least the 4th century BC, when Mandragora was recommended by Theophrastus for treatment of wounds, gout, and sleeplessness, and as a love potion. In the first century BC, Cleopatra used atropine-rich extracts from the Egyptian henbane plant for the above-mentioned purpose of dilating the pupils of her eyes.
The use of deadly nightshades as a poison was known in ancient Rome, as attested by the rumour that the Roman empress Livia Drusilla used the juice of Atropa bella-donna berries to murder her husband, the emperor Augustus.
In the first century AD, Dioscorides recognised wine of mandrake as an anaesthetic for treatment of pain or sleeplessness, to be given prior to surgery or cautery.
The use of nightshade preparations for anaesthesia, often in combination with opium, persisted throughout the Roman and Islamic empires and continued in Europe until superseded in the 19th century by modern anaesthetics.
The modern pharmacological study of Atropa bella-donna extracts was begun by the German chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge. In 1831, the German pharmacist Heinrich F. G. Mein succeeded in preparing a pure crystalline form of the active substance, named atropine.
Description
Atropa bella-donna is a branching herbaceous perennial rhizomatous hemicryptophyte, often growing as a subshrub from a fleshy rootstock. Plants can reach a height of , and have ovate leaves up to long. The bell-shaped flowers are dull purple tinged yellow-green toward the base and are faintly scented. The fruits are berries, which are green, ripening to a shiny black, and approximately in diameter. The berries are sweet and are consumed by animals that disperse the seeds in their droppings, even though they contain toxic alkaloids. There is a pale-yellow flowering form with pale yellow fruit called Atropa bella-donna var. lutea.A. bella-donna is sometimes confused with the much less poisonous black nightshade Solanum nigrum, belonging to a different genus within Solanaceae. A comparison of the fruit shows that black nightshade berries are spherical, have a dull lustre and grow in clusters, whereas the berries of deadly nightshade are much glossier, twice as large, somewhat flattened and are borne singly. Another distinction is that black nightshade flowers are not tubular but white and star-shaped, bearing a central cone of yellow anthers.
Distribution
Atropa bella-donna is native across temperate southern, central and eastern Europe, northwestern Africa, 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.It has long been introduced and cultivated outside its native range, and is now naturalised north and west of its native range in Europe, and in parts of North America, China, Australia, and New Zealand, where it is often found in shady, moist locations with limestone-rich soils. In southern Sweden it was recorded in Flora of Skåne in 1870 as grown in apothecary gardens near Malmö. It is considered a weed species in parts of the world, where it colonises areas with disturbed soils.
Cultivation
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 -the process of preventing soil-borne pathogens from weakening the seeds from germination- and root disturbance during transplanting, ensuring they do not resent root disturbance.Taxonomy
Atropa bella-donna is in the nightshade family, which it shares with potatoes, tomatoes, aubergine, thornapple, tobacco, wolfberry, and chili peppers. The common names for this species include deadly nightshade, belladonna, divale, dwale, banewort, devil's berries, death cherries, beautiful death, devil's herb, great morel, and dwayberry.Etymology
The name Atropa bella-donna was published by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753. Atropa is derived from the name of the Greek goddess Atropos —one of the three Greek fates or destinies who would determine the course of a man's life by the weaving of threads that symbolised his birth, the events in his life, and finally his death, with Atropos cutting these threads to mark the last of these. The name "bella-donna" comes from the two words bella and donna in the Italian language, meaning 'beautiful' and 'woman', respectively, originating from its usage as a cosmetic to beautify pallid skin.Toxicity
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, and hyoscyamine, have anticholinergic properties. The symptoms of poisoning include dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, severely dry mouth and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and convulsions. In 2009, A. bella-donna berries were mistaken for blueberries by an adult woman; the six berries she ate were documented to result in severe anticholinergic syndrome. The deadly symptoms are caused by disruption by the atropine of the parasympathetic nervous system's ability to regulate involuntary activities, such as sweating, breathing, and heart rate. The antidote for belladonna poisoning is an anticholinesterase or a cholinomimetic, the same as for atropine.
Atropa bella-donna is also toxic to many domestic animals, causing narcosis and paralysis. However, cattle and rabbits eat the plant seemingly without suffering harmful effects. In humans, its anticholinergic properties will cause the disruption of cognitive capacities, such as memory and learning.
Due to its toxicity, it is advised to not handle the plant without the use of gloves. It is also cautioned to not eat the plant. Even in extremely small doses, when consumed, the toxicity can lead to death. In addition to this, Atropa has been known to have negative psychological effects on those that come into contact with it. Alongside the side effects of insomnia, local paralysis, and dizziness, are the interchanging states of mind swinging from excitement to absolute rabidness.