Scopolia

Belladonna ( Scopolia carniolica )

The genus belladonna ( Scopolia ) belongs to the nightshade family (Solanaceae ). All parts of the plant, especially the roots are poisonous, they contain the alkaloid hyoscyamine.

Description

Species of the genus belladonna ( Scopolia ) form 20 to 80 cm tall, herbaceous plants that spring from a fleshy, stout and horizontal verlaufendem rhizome. The leaves are 8-20 cm long, obovate or oblong, strongly tapered to 5 to 15 mm long petioles.

The flowers appear singly in the shoot axils, nodding at 1.5 to 4 cm long pedicles. The bell-shaped calyx is 7-11 mm long, making it two to three times shorter than the corolla tube. At the calyx sit five calyx teeth that are about 1.5 times shorter than the calyx and have a triangular or elongated shape. The crown is bell-shaped to tubular - bell-shaped, greenish- yellow to the outside and colored between (17 ) and 21 24 (30 ) mm long, usually inside yellowish reddish-purple or brownish- purple. The crown has five weak Corolla lobe, which are very short and wide. The do not have the crown protruding stamens are slightly different to each other long, the stamens are hairy at the base and attached to the outer edge of the crown base. The dust bag attached to the base of the filaments, (2.5 ) 2.9 to 3.8 (4.0) mm in length and about four times shorter than the filaments. The pollen grains with a diameter 43-49 microns medium in size, the exine (pollen grain surface ) is flaky. The flower has annularly arranged nectaries, the scar is depressed.

The fruits are Pyxidien, a special form of dry fruit capsules. Their diameter is 9-10 mm, closely surrounded by a slightly enlarged with 1.2 to 2.4 cm long calyx. The seeds are (2 ) of 2,6 to 3 ( 4 ) cm long, the Episperm is kleingrubig, the endosperm is abundant pronounced.

System

There are two types:

• Krainer belladonna ( Scopolia carniolica Jacq. )
• Scopolia japonica Maxim.

Other species that have been assigned to the genus were considered to be synonymous with these two types or assigned other genera.

Within the scheme of the nightshade family, the genus in the tribe Hyoscyameae is classified.

Dissemination

Both species have disjunct distribution areas. The Krainer belladonna ( Scopolia carniolica ) arrives in Europe, mainly in Central and South Eastern Europe before, the range extends up to northern Italy and Ukraine. Scopolia japonica is found in East Asia, especially in Japan and Korea. Both species occur at altitudes up to 1700 meters before.