486 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Fig. 216. 



produce intoxication, and supposes it to be the Nepenthes of Homer. [Flor. 

 Egypt. 45.) 



Atropa. — Linn. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-cleft. Corolla carnpanulate, 5-lobed, twice the length of the calyx. 

 Stamens five, filiform, incurved. Berry globular, 2-celled, many-seeded. 



A small but very narcotic genus, whose name is derived from Ateopos, 

 one of the destinies, indicating the fate of such as become subject to its influ- 

 ence. The earlier botanical writers included most of the species in Solanum, 

 to which it is closely allied in properties and habits. One species only is 

 officinal, as the A. mandragora now is seldom employed. 



Descourtilz has described a shrubby species, a native of the West Indies, 

 which is so acrid as to paralyse the tongue, on chewing a portion of it. (Flar. 

 Med. Antill. iii. 119.) 



A. belladonna, Linn. — Stem herbaceous. Leaves ovate, entire. Flowers solitary. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 260 ; Woodville, t. i. ; Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. i. 394 ; Ste- 

 phenson and Churchill, i. 1 ; Lindley, Flor. Med. 508. 



Common Names. — Deadly Nightshade ; Dwale ; Black Cherry ; Night- 

 shade. 



Foreign Names. — Belladonne, Fr.; Belladonna, It.; Tollkraut, Ger. 



Description. — Root thick, 

 fleshy, creeping, much branch- 

 ed. Stem erect, cylindrical, 

 herbaceous, annual, hirsute, 

 about three or four feet high. 

 The branches are dichotomous, 

 of a purplish colour, and fur- 

 nished with ovate, entire, some- 

 what soft leaves, which are acu- 

 minate at both ends, of a dull 

 green colour, growing in pairs, 

 of an unequal size, on short pe- 

 tioles. The flowers are solitary, 

 somewhat drooping, on short, 

 1-flowered, axillary peduncles. 

 The calyx is green, persistent, 

 and deeply divided into five 

 ovate segments. The corolla 

 is monopetalous, campanulate, 

 with the limb divided into five 

 lobes, of a lurid purple exter- 

 nally, darker on the upper inter- 

 nal surface, yellowish below. 

 The stamens are five, shorter 

 than the corolla, and bearing 

 cordate, 4-lobed anthers. The 

 ovary is spheroidal, with a nec- 

 tariferous gland beneath, and 

 supporting a long, simple style, 

 with a 2-lobed stigma. The 

 fruit is a 2-celled berry, about 

 the size of a small cherry, with 

 a transverse furrow, shining, 

 smooth, of a dark violet-black 

 colour, and containing numerous 

 A. belladonna. reniform seeds, embedded in a 



]. Stamens. 2. Style. 3. Stigma. 4. Berry and Seedi. soft pulp. 



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