BELLADONNA

 Chapter: Entheogens

Read about BELLADONNA in "Drug safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding" section

AKA: Apples of Sodom, Atropa belladonna, banewort, beautiful lady, black cherry, deadly nightshade, death's herb, devil's herb, dwale, hound's berries, morrel, murderer's berry, naughty man's cherry, petty-morrel, poison black cherry, sorcerer's cherry, witches' berry.

A member of the potato family, it is used in various medications including sleep remedies, cold remedies, treatments for ulcers and stomach problems, and some asthma drugs.

Effects: Hallucinations, which may contain elements of ecstasy and eroticism. It contains the psychoactive alkaloids atropine, scopolamine, and hysoscyamine, along with traces of nicotine.

Precautions: Contains the dangerous alkaloid apoatropine. Side effects include dry mouth, hot skin, rash, blurred vision, fear, restlessness, confusion, vomiting, convulsions, learning impairment, permanent eye damage, permanent brain damage, and death from heart failure.

Dosage: Some people in Asia and the Middle East eat or smoke the dried, crushed leaves (30 to 200 mg) or the root (30 to 120 mg). Toxicity may vary from plant to plant and from person to person, but can be as little as one berry.

Questions and Answers

where does belladonna grow or where can i buy some? i live in alabama if that helps.?, belladonna is an herb

Atropa Belladonna (also called Deadly Nightshade) is an old world plant that likes to grow in shady areas with minimal sun. You might be hard pressed to find it growing in the wild, and you'd have to be experienced in recognizing the plant by sight, which can sometimes be difficult with the many varieties of plants in this world.

You can buy the seeds online at www.horizonherbs.com which is where I have bought them, and grew them at home. (hint: refrigerate the seeds for a week or so before sprouting, as I had better luck using this method myself. They are slow to germinate.)

Be careful with this plant, as it contains alkaloids such as atropine and hyoscyamine which can be lethal in sufficient doses.