DEADLY NIGHTSHADE 213 



Deadly Xii^htshade is largely a sand plant li\ing on a sand soil, or 

 may be lound on chalk. 



A beetle, Crepidodera ali-opw, tc;eds upon it, and a moth, the 

 Dotted Cla)' {Agro/is bajd). 



Afi'Opa, Linnaitis, is from the (ireek ^-itropos, one of the Fates who 

 cut the thread of life, in reference to its deadly poisonous nature; and 

 Belladonna, Mathiolus, means beautitul latly. 



It is called Banewort, Belladonna, Naughty Man's Cherry, Daft- 

 berries, Deadly Nightshs.de, Deaths-herb, Dwale, Deadly Dwale, 

 Dway-berries, Jacob's Ladder, Mad, Manicon, Mekilwort, Great 

 Morel, Sleeping" Nightshade. It is called Daft-berries because the 

 berries cause giddiness, anil Dwale. 



'■ Tlic frcre with his hsik, this folk hath cnchauntcd. 

 And dnth men drinl< dwale that men dredcth no synne". 



— Piers PUnvinan. 



Dwale means opiate, that which dulls. Manicon is so referred to in 



Hudibras : 



"Bewitch Hermetic men to run 

 Stark staring mad with manicon". 



It used to be called Solanuni soniniferuvi, or Sleeping Nightshade. 



In Bohemia they superstitiously believe it a plant of the devil, who 

 watches it, but may be drawn from it on Walpurgis Night by letting 

 loose a black hen, after which he will run. In Itah' it was used by 

 women to give lustre to the eyes. The berries are sweet and poisonous. 

 The leaves are dried and used as a drug. It is an anodyne for neu- 

 ralgia, and enlarges the pupil of the eye, and is used for ophthalmic 

 complaints. There is a legend that the berries of Dwale were mixed 

 with the wine of the Danes who came with .Sweno, by the Scotch 

 when they held a truce, and that the latter afterwards fell on the Danes. 

 The plant is narcotic. Goats feed on it. 



EssF.i\Ti.\L Specific Characters: — 



224. Atropa Belladonna, L. — Stem stout, branched, leaves ovate, 

 flowers purple, campanulate, drooping, a.\illar\', on short peduncles, 

 berries black, poisonous. 



