Though highly poisonous, it feeds woodland animals and even has medicinal properties. Its leaves are poisonous and grow in an alternate pattern on stalks. Despite its toxicity, medicines have been made from deadly nightshade. Leaves: oval-shaped, untoothed with smooth edges and pointed ends. They grow on stalks in an alternate pattern and are poisonous.
Flowers: bell-shaped with purple and green colouration, around 2. Fruit: shiny black berries with five sepals visible where the fruit attaches to the plant.
The berries are also highly poisonous. Not to be confused with: bittersweet, known as woody nightshade, which has the same colour flowers as deadly nightshade. However, the flowers of bittersweet have noticeable yellow anthers and are suspended from purple stems. The berries are red instead of black, though both are poisonous. Look in scrubby areas and woodland, but also along paths and banks. Find it in the southern half of Britain on calcareous chalky soil and in areas where soil has been disturbed.
Some birds can eat the berries of deadly nightshade although they are more likely to take fruits from other plant species. The berries are also poisonous to various mammals, but eaten by rabbits and even cows!
Deadly nightshade was said to be the property of the Devil, meaning that anyone who eats the berries is punished for eating his fruit. In art and poetry, it represents danger and betrayal. Medicines made from the plant are said to ease abdominal problems and motion sickness. All parts of the plant exhale a nauseous and rank odor, and are pervaded by its narcotic principle. The edition of the United States Dispensatory describes the medicinal properties of belladonna as.
Among its first obvious effects, when taken in the usual dose, and continued for some time, are dryness and stricture of the fauces and neighboring parts, with slight uneasiness or giddiness of the head, and dimness of vision.
In medicinal doses, it may also occasion dilatation of the pupil, decided frontal headache, slight delirium, colicky pains and purging, and a scarlet efflorescence of the skin; but this last effect is rare. In large quantities, belladonna produces the most deleterious effects. It is in fact a powerful poison, and many instances are recorded in which it has been taken with fatal consequences. All parts of the plant are active, but the leaves are the only area of the plant recognized as official by pharmacopeias of the midth century for medicinal purposes.
The active ingredients of belladonna include atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine. The flowers bloom from June to early September while the berries ripen to shiny black from August to October. Belladonna is one of the most toxic plants found in the Eastern Hemisphere and is rarely found in gardens.
The foliage, berries and roots are extremely toxic, but the berries pose the greatest threat to children because they look attractive and have a somewhat sweet taste.
Signs of belladonna poisoning include delirium and hallucinations. Extract of belladonna was included in the United States Army Standard Supply Table and therefore commonly carried in field medical wagons and used in camp hospitals in the Civil War era.
Belladonna could be used to treat a variety of ailments such as neuralgias, whooping cough, scarlet fever, spasmodic asthma, intestinal cramps and to dilate the pupil of the eyes. Given the common occurrence of intestinal complaints, it was frequently used as an antispasmodic to treat diarrhea. It was particularly effective in treating neuralgias such as trigeminal neuralgia and sciatica.
Sciatica is neuralgia along the course of the sciatic nerve, most often with pain radiating into the buttock and lower limb, most commonly due to herniation of a lumbar disk. A liniment or ointment would have been used in the treatment of a neuralgia.
During the Civil War, one can imagine a member of the Quartermaster Department engaged in his duty loading and unloading wagons. One day he injures himself, shows up for daily sick call and describes symptoms consistent with sciatica.
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