THE NIGHTSHADES 161 
shade, which trails over our hedges, and hangs down its 
star-like violet flowers, set off by large yellow stamens, 
to be replaced in autumn by the graceful scarlet berries. 
This is sometimes called the Deadly Nightshade, but 
quite wrongly, for that is a very different and more 
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE, 
dangerous plant. Growing usually on ruins, a large- 
leaved, bushy plant, its single, dull purple flowers are 
unmistakable, as are also its berries, like large and 
solitary black currants, rich in a potent drug, belladonna, 
_ Except the toadstools that pretend to be mushrooms, no 
plant has a worse reputation for poisoning the unwary, 
and it is fortunate that it is comparatively rare. (I have 
only seen one specimen in casual plant-hunting.) The 
M 
