Plants of the nightshade family include many species of both edible crops and wild-growing poisonous herbs.
The former include potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, physalis, and others known for their taste. Others contain special substances – alkaloids that can cause severe poisoning and even lead to death if their dose is too high. However, poisonous plants can be beneficial. They are successfully used in pharmaceuticals for the manufacture of drugs and various additives. In folk medicine, decoctions and tinctures based on them are used.
Belladonna
Belladonna is a genus of wild shrubs up to one and a half meters high. She has a lignified trunk, oblong leaves and powerful roots. Belladonna blooms with purple flowers in the form of bells, and the fruits are black round berries. But you cannot eat them. Just a few berries can kill even a strong, healthy person.
Wolfberry
Wolfberry is a shrub up to 2 meters high with elongated oval leaves. Its other names: wolf bast, wolfberry, wolf ivy. The flowers of the plant resemble lilac inflorescences, and its berries are bright red. In no case should they be eaten. It is also not recommended to touch the plant and even inhale its smell, because there is a risk of burns to the skin and upper respiratory tract.
Black henbane
Black henbane is a biennial shrub reaching a height of 115 cm. It has an unpleasant odor and a sticky surface with a downy. The flowers are yellow-purple, and the fruits are capsules with a large number of seeds (up to 500 pieces). The plant is completely poisonous. When ingested, in addition to obvious signs of poisoning, it causes hallucinations.
Mandrake
Mandrake is a perennial stemless plant that is a rosette of leaves. The rosette diameter can be 1-2 m or more. The root of the mandrake branches out as it grows, making it look like a human figure. The flowers of this plant are purple, blue or white-green.
Mandragora has psychotropic properties. Scopolamine, which is part of her tissues, is capable of causing hallucinations.
Annual tobacco
Annual tobacco is a herb with straight shoots from 20 to 90 cm, narrow leaves and funnel-like flowers. Their color can be red, white, pink, yellow, etc. The flowers open after sunset, and their scent becomes much stronger.
An alkaloid called nicotine is synthesized in the roots of this plant. Later, it accumulates in the foliage. Dry leaves contain 0.3-5% nicotine.
Belladonna
Belladonna is a typical member of the genus belladonna of the Solanaceae family. All organs of the plant contain alkaloids of the atropine group. Atropine poisoning can cause mental disorders, expressed by changes in consciousness, impaired perception and thinking.
Belladonna grows mainly in the humid forests of Western Ukraine, Crimea, the Caucasus, Europe, North Africa.
Dope stinks
The life cycle of a plant is one year. Datura can grow up to 1.5 m in height. This herbaceous plant has straight stems, ovoid leaves with jagged edges. Funnel-shaped white dope flowers are very fragrant, exude a strong and heavy odor. The fruit is a box with valves, which contains about 5 g of seeds.
Datura is extremely toxic due to its high content of tropane alkaloids.
Nightshade black
Black nightshade is a shrub with a straight stem, growing to a height of 110 cm. The nightshade blooms with small white flowers, collected in inflorescences of 3-8 pieces. Flowering ends with the appearance of black fruit-berries. When unripe, they contain the poisonous solanine. They and other parts of the plant also contain saponins, which irritate the mucous membranes.
Bittersweet nightshade
This type of nightshade is a perennial shrub with a height of 30 to 180 cm. It bears fruits in the form of sweet red berries, with a bitter aftertaste. Hence the name.
Poisonous solanine is found in roots, stems, leaves, fruits and seeds. Bittersweet nightshade is used as an insecticidal agent, for the production of medicines and for decorative purposes.
