Scopolia carniolica
| Scopolia carniolica | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida |
| Order: | Solanales |
| Family: | Solanaceae |
| Genus: | Scopolia |
| Species: | S. carniolica |
| Binomial name | |
| Scopolia carniolica Jacq. | |
Scopolia carniolica, the henbane bell, is a poisonous plant from the family of Solanaceae, It has dark violet flowers on long hanging stems. It grows to 60 centimetres (24 in) in height. It is poisonous, because it contains abundant quantities of tropane alkaloids, particularly atropine. The quantity of atropine is the highest in the root.
Scopolia carniolica grows on wet soils in beech forests of southeastern Europe from lowlands to the mountainous zones. In Slovenia grows also the rare form Scopolia carniolica f. hladnikiana, recognisable after having the inside and the outside of the corolla of green-yellow color.
Scopolia carniolica was first described by the botanist Carl Linnaeus and named in honour of the physician Giovanni Antonio Scopoli as Hyoscyamus scopolia. Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin classified it to the genus Scopolia.
Scopolia carniolica is the symbol of the Slovene Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine. The plant is a source of scopolamine, which was used as an anesthetic in the past.[1][2]
References
- ↑ Soban, Branko (January 2005). "A Living Bond between Idrija and Uppsala". Slovenija.svet. Slovene Emigrant Association. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ Scopoli, Giovanni Antonio. Joannes A. Scopoli-Carl Linnaeus. Dopisovanje/Correspondence 1760-1775, ed. Darinka Soban. Ljubljana, 2004: Slovene Natural History Society.
External links
Media related to Scopolia carniolica at Wikimedia Commons