Cherries O'Death

Strolling across the field behind my house, I chanced upon something pretty alarming - a cluster of Atropa Belladona - otherwise known as Deadly Nightshade. I took a snap of it below.

Belladonna - the kind of beautiful lady you don't want to encounter

This notorious little plant, as well as being related to tomatoes and aubergines, is an uber-toxic, hallucinogenic and downright nasty piece of work. As the latin name suggests, it contains atropine, which affects the central nervous system in pretty horrible fashion. As Wikipedia delightfully informs us, poisoning from the plant results in "dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, dry mouth and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and convulsions". Lovely. In short, stay the hell away unless you want to perish horribly from complete organ failure whilst seeing some nice twinkling lights.

Throughout history it was used to poison the tips of arrows and also as a cosmetic to dilate women's pupils - which was considered attractive, if they could avoid the unfortunate side-effect of going blind.

Strangely enough, the rather sinister-looking black berries aren't the most lethal part of the plant - an adult would have to consume quite a number to cause any damage. Eat one leaf, on the other hand and it's game over.