A'TROPA, a genus of Dicotyledonous Plants belonging to tho natural order Solanacete, and consisting for the most part of poisonous species. It is distinguished from other genera of the same natural order by its regular bell-shaped corolla, its 5-parted permanent calyx, which never acquires a bladdery appearance, and by its succu lent fruit.
Atropa Belladonna, Deadly Nightshade, or Dwale, is found not unfrequently in thickets and hedges in this country. The whole Deadly Nlghtshado (Atropa Belladonna).
I, A corolla cut open, showing tho position of the stamens ; 2, tho calyx, with the pistil ; 3, a berry cut In half to show Its two cells, is each of which arc several seeds. ' plant is of a lightish green colour, except the flowers, which are large and of a dingy brownish purple, and the berries, which are of the rich deep black of black cherries. The root is perennial, the stem grows about 2 feet high, and the leaves are acute, with an oblong figure, tapering to each end. The flowers are bell-shaped, larger than those of the harebell, and placed singly in the bosom of the leaves. The border of the corolla is cut into 5 equal lobes : there are 5 stamens, a tapering pistil with 2 cella, and many seeds in the ovary, a long slender style, and a flattened stigma slightly divided into two lobes. The odour of the whole plant is nauseous and oppressive, as if to warn us of its venomous nature. It is in the leaves, root, and berries that the poison resides, and particularly in the berries, which from their resemblance to cherries have often been eaten by children with fatal consequences. The active property of Belladonna, though most com monly remarked in the fruit, exists also in the leaves, and especially in the roots, both of which have the same acrid narcotic property. They have nevertheless been frequently employed medicinally, and extract of Belladonna is one of the most energetic preparations in the modern Materia Medics.
Atropa Mandragora, or Mandrake, is another species still more venomous and dangerous than the last. It is found in many parts of the south of Europe, particularly in the Grecian islands, where it is common. Its root is a largo dark-coloured fleshy mass, often divided into two or three forks, which have been fancied to resemble a human body ; this circumstance, and its well-known poisonous qualities, gave it in the days of popular ignorance and credulity the reputation of being endowed with animal feelings ; the roots were said to shriek when torn from the earth, and it was accounted dangerous to disturb them.
of which the negroes are fond. Its leaves form an excellent thatch, and are woven into hats meta, and baskets.
This remarkable plant has no apparent stem, but its long hairy sharp-pointed leaves rise from the surface of the ground, and form a deep green tuft, from the midst of which the flowers rise on slender stalks about two inches long. Their corolla is of a whitish colour, stained with veins of dingy purple ; the fruit is pale orange-coloured, and about as large as a sparrow's egg. The smell of the whole plant is very fetid.
Atropa phytaloides, a plant called Alkekengi in gardens, where it is often cultivated as a hardy annual, belongs now to the genus Nicandra.
A'TItYPA (Dolman), a subdivision of the great genus Terebratula, chiefly (if not entirely) confined to a fossil state, and to the Paleozoic Strata. Many of the Spirifcrte of Sowerby (as S. glabra, fimbriata) and some of the Terebrat ula of the same author (as T. pugnus), have been referred to this genus. T. psittacea is the recent analogue.