Atropa belladonna

Atropa belladonna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes and aubergine (eggplant). It is native to Europe and Western Asia, including Turkey. Its distribution extends from Ireland 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. 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 (to which the genus Atropa belongs) and Mandragoreae, but also in the New World tribe Datureae—all of which belong to the subfamily Solanoideae of the plant family Solanaceae.

Atropa belladonna has unpredictable effects. The antidote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine or pilocarpine, the same as for atropine.

The potentially deadly ripe fruit of Atropa belladonna can be distinguished from the similar Solanum nigrum by its larger berry size, its much larger calyx than S. nigrum that extends wider than the fruit (either encasing it or extending flat), and that A. belladonna has singular berries, whilst S. nigrum grows as a cluster of berries located on a descending stem, similar to tomatoes. Solanum nigrum has other potentially toxic look alikes and should be confidently identified before attempts at foraging.