the.com/belladonna
A highly toxic plant whose extracts have been used both as medicine and as a poison.
means A highly toxic plant (Atropa belladonna, also called deadly nightshade) whose extracts have long been used medicinally in small doses and as a poison in larger ones.
from From Italian 'bella donna,' meaning 'beautiful lady' — Renaissance women reportedly dripped juice from the plant into their eyes to dilate their pupils, a look considered alluring at the time. The genus name Atropa comes from Atropos, one of the three Fates in Greek myth, the one who cut the thread of life — a nod to just how lethal the plant could be.
- name meaning
- Italian for beautiful woman, worn as eye drops
- lethal dose
- as few as two to five berries
- medical use
- still prescribed, in doses measured very, very carefully