126 
ON  COMMERCIAL  BELLADONNA  LEAVES, 
green  beneath  and  glandular  hairy  on  the  veins  and  petioles. 
On  drying  they  become  very  thin,  and  appear  semi-transparent 
when  held  up  to  the  light ;  their  color  in  the  dry  state  has  been 
mentioned  above. 
Dr.  E.  R.  Squibb,  of  Brooklyn,  a  few  weeks  ago,  met  with  a 
bale  of  German  belladonna,  which  he  found  largely  adulterated 
with  fragments  of  the  leaves  of  digitalis ;  he  very  kindly  fur- 
nished me  with  a  sample  of  the  same.  Comparatively  few  of  the 
belladonna  leaves  present  the  characteristics  of  having  been 
carefully  dried ;  many  are  dark  colored  and  even  nearly  black. 
From  these  the  broken  leaves  of  Digitalis  purpurea,  Linn.,  are 
readily  distinguished  by  their  different  color,  the  soft  white  hairs, 
the  net  of  prominent  white  veins,  and  the  purplish  midrib  on  the 
lower  side.  On  closer  examination,  I  detected  some  leaves  of 
Solanum  nigrum,  Linn.,  known  by  their  ovate  shape  and  sinuate 
toothed  margin,  of  Solanum  villosum,  Willd.,  resembling  the  for- 
mer, but  villose  on  both  sides,  and  the  upper  end  of  a  twig,  the 
leaves  of  which  are  somewhat  crowded,  much  perforated  by  insect 
bites,  and  of  a  rather  thicker  texture  and  smaller  size  than  bella- 
donna leaves,  but  otherwise  resembling  them  in  shape.  The  latter 
I  take  to  be  those  of  Atropa  belladonna,  as  well  as  some  fragments 
of  withered  brownish  yellow  leaves,  the  base  of  which  is  less  at- 
tenuate and  inclines  more  to  oval  oblong.  They  might,  how- 
ever, belong  to  Scopolia  atropoides,  Schultes,  which  Professor 
Wiggers  (Pharmacognosie,  page  273)  states  are  apt  to  be  con- 
founded with  belladona  leaves,  and  which  are  described  as  petio- 
late,  oval  oblong,  smooth,  entire,  and  somewhat  rugose  ;  I  am  not 
acquainted  with  this  latter  plant,  that  grows  in  south  eastern 
Germany,  Hungary,  Croatia,  &c.  A  very  few  branches  of  moss 
might  be  overlooked  as  accidental  impurities.  Among  the  finer 
portion  of  the  leaves,  I  found  some  flowers  and  fully  developed 
fruits  of  belladonna,  small  leafy  portions  covered  with  a  dense 
wool,  probably  from  Verbascum  thapsus,  Linn.,  calyces  of  a 
labiatous  plant,  nearly  pentagonal,  regularly  and  sharply  five- 
toothed,  ten-ribbed  and  containing  brown,  slightly  netted-veined 
nutlets  ;  also  some  sections  of  a  longitudinally  wrinkled,  dead 
herbaceous  stem. 
The  barefacedness  with  which  such  an  article  had  been  put 
up  for  exportation,  the  faithful  simplicity  and  happy  ignorance 
