"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."
Showing posts with label Belladonna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belladonna. Show all posts

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Belladonna

In Italian, a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the similarity of the two languages.


Belladonna, the Deadly Nightshade or Atropa belladonna, was the Devil's favorite plant. It has purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries. An alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, contains atropine and was used as eyedrops to widen the pupil and hence make women look more attractive.