Atropa bella-donna

Atropa bella-donna, the deadly nightshade or belladonna, is a stout perennial herb in the family Solanaceae native to Europe, North Africa, and western Asia, growing in calcareous woodland clearings, scrub, hedge banks, and disturbed ground on chalk and limestone. The plant arises from a thick fleshy taproot and produces erect branching purple-tinged stems 0.6-2 m tall. Leaves are alternate but often appear paired by the suppression of one of a pair at each node, ovate to elliptic, 7-25 cm long, entire, dull dark green, and softly pubescent. The flowers are solitary and nodding in the leaf axils, bell-shaped, 2-3 cm long, with a five-lobed dull purplish-brown to greenish corolla streaked with darker veins and surrounded by a persistent green calyx with five lanceolate lobes. The fruit is a glossy black globular berry 1-2 cm across, superficially cherry-like, seated in the spreading five-pointed calyx; the unripe berries are green. All parts of the plant contain the highly toxic tropane alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine, with the highest concentrations in the root and the ripe berries. Ingestion of even a few berries can be fatal to children.