Atropa belladonna - Deadly Nightshade - (Solanaceae)

This member of the Solanaceae (Nightshade) family has as bad a reputation as the other members that occur throughout Europe - although in the case of Thorn Apple (Datura stramonium) it has become naturalised in Europe by the use of imported fertilisers from South America.

Deadly nightshade

Although Deadly Nightshade has for many years been used as a medicine, the glossy black berries of this plant are a potent poison. It is mainly found on lime. Solitary specimens are occasionally found growing at the edge of shaded areas where limestone chippings had been spread a few years earlier.

The plant mainly occurs in southern and eastern parts of the UK - the specimen on this page having been photographed on a hillside in Hampshire in June.

Woody nightshade, or bittersweet, is often, but quite wrongly, called Deadly Nightshade.