Aleulio

History
          Atropa bella-donna has a long history of use as a medicine, cosmetic, and poison.[14][4][15] Known originally under various folk names (such as "deadly nightshade" in English), the plant was named Atropa bella-donna by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) when he devised his classification system. Linnaeus chose the genus name Atropa because of the poisonous properties of these plants. Atropos (lit. "unturning one"), one of the Three Fates in Greek mythology, is said to have cut a person's thread of life after her sisters had spun and measured it. Linnaeus chose the species name bella-donna ("beautiful woman" in Italian) in reference to the cosmetic use of the plant during the Renaissance. While it has since been claimed[16] that women used belladonna to dilate their pupils in order to appear more attractive, this claim appears to date from much more recently and to conflate earlier sources which described its use for complexion with a later association with dilation of the pupils.[citation needed]

Aleulio

Name
          As with most names in biology, the scientific name differs from the common name. The common name of this plant is deadly nightshade or simply belladonna. The name entered English when John Gerard used it in his illustrated Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, first published in 1597, displacing dwale as the English common name for this plant.[9] The English translation of 1633[10] was seen as the best and most exhaustive work of its kind and a standard reference for some time.[11]
          
          Its correct scientific name is hyphenated bella-donna.[1] In his original description, Linnaeus called it Atropa bella donna with a space between 'bella' and 'donna',[12] and this space is treated by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Article 60.11 Ex.42) as an error to be replaced by a hyphen.[13]

Aleulio

Consumption of Atropa bella-donna has unpredictable effects.[3] The antidote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine or pilocarpine, the same as for atropine.[8]
          
          The highly toxic ripe fruit can be distinguished from that of black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) by its larger berry size and larger stellate calyx (with long, broad and somewhat accrescent lobes protruding beyond the fruit) and the fact that A. bella-donna bears its berries singly, whilst S. nigrum bears spherical berries resembling tiny tomatoes in umbellate clusters.

Aleulio

"Deadly nightshade" redirects here. For other uses, see Deadly Nightshade.
          Atropa bella-donna
          
          Scientific classificationEdit this classification
          Kingdom:	Plantae
          Clade:	Tracheophytes
          Clade:	Angiosperms
          Clade:	Eudicots
          Clade:	Asterids
          Order:	Solanales
          Family:	Solanaceae
          Genus:	Atropa
          Species:	A. bella-donna
          Binomial name
          Atropa bella-donna
          L.
          Atropa bella-donna, commonly known as deadly nightshade or belladonna, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae,[1][2] which also includes tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant. It is native to Europe and Western Asia, including Turkey, its distribution extending from England in the west to western Ukraine and the Iranian province of Gilan in the east. It is also naturalised or introduced in some parts of Canada, North Africa and the United States.
          
          The foliage and berries are extremely toxic when ingested, containing tropane alkaloids.[2][3][4][5] It can also be harmful to handle and/or touch these plants. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, which cause delirium and hallucinations,[2][3][4][6][7] and are also used as pharmaceutical anticholinergics.[2] Tropane alkaloids are of common occurrence not only in the Old World tribes Hyoscyameae (to which the genus Atropa belongs) and Mandragoreae, but also in the New World tribe Datureae—all of which belong to the subfamily Solanoideae of the plant family Solanaceae.