Perennial herbaceous plant up to 1.5 m tall. Rhizome multi-headed with large branched roots. Stems one or more; stems erect, branched, coming out of the rhizome. The leaves are alternate, broadly lanceolate, pointed, entire, up to 20 cm long or more. Flowers solitary, sometimes paired, on short stalks in leaf axils, dirty purple. The fruit is a purple-black shiny berry. Blooms in July-August.
Medicinal raw materials are grass and roots. The grass is harvested during flowering and at the beginning of fruiting, dried immediately after collection in the air in the shade or under a canopy, on cloudy days – in dryers at a temperature of 30-40 degrees, gradually increasing it to 60 degrees. The roots are collected from plants not younger than 2 years of age in autumn. The storage period is 2 years in compliance with the rules for storing poisonous plants.
The plant contains atropine, which is accompanied by other alkaloids – glosciamine, scopolamine, apoatropine, belladonnin. All of these active principles are poisons of the nervous system.
The alkaloids of belladonna have the ability to regulate the tone and peristalsis of the gastrointestinal tract, biliary and urinary tracts, expand the bronchi, dilate the pupil and increase intraocular pressure, significantly suppress the secretion of the glandular apparatus, strengthen and speed up the activity of the heart.
The belladonna is used for bronchial asthma, gastric and nephrolithiasis, hyperacid gastritis, peptic ulcer and spastic conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, in the treatment of patients with parkinsonism, with vegetative dystonia and vasoneurosis. Beauty preparations can be used for poisoning with mushrooms or morphine – 20 drops of tincture at a time.
Due to the rich content of atropine, belladonna is widely used in homeopathy as an antispasmodic and analgesic agent: for peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, for muscle, joint and neuralgic pains, for purulent bronchitis, to reduce debilitating sweats for pulmonary tuberculosis, for convulsive cough , epilepsy and hernia. Belladonna is used for bradycardia (slow heart rate). They prefer to use fresh juice for treatment, and if you use extracts, then only from fresh grass.
Atropine is widely used to treat the eyes, but it is contraindicated in glaucoma (eye disease with increased intraocular pressure). Before the arrival of a doctor, people use belladonna in the form of powder and fresh juice, which is permissible at home with a strict dosage.
Application
Leaf powder: 0.01-0.02 g, i.e. at the tip of a penknife, 2-3 times every day.
Burn half a teaspoon of the powder by inhaling the smoke (for bronchial asthma).
Fresh juice: 5-10 drops twice daily.
The picture of belladonna poisoning and help with it are the same as with poisoning with henbane and dope. See Datura ordinary.