This is the beautiful Belladonna , more commonly known as the Deadly Nightshade. It is one of my favorite plants and I can never bring myself to pull it out of the beds. She winds herself around everything and her beautiful flowers weave the loveliest and most bewitching purple spell all over my gardens. As beautiful as this plant is , it is also quite dangerous as its main constituent is Atropine ; a pretty deadly poison. the plant produces berries which are sweet and juicy , gorgeous and incredibly toxic which is probably why you don't see it hanging around in very many gardens.
Belladonna has some pretty incredible healing properties although I personally only know one herbalist who I trust to dose this plant safely. I prefer to use it energetically and Belladonna is my go to plant whenever I'm feeling a bit nervous or stressed. She has the loveliest sedative properties so I just go and sit with her for awhile. I've also discovered that if I'm wanting to understand a situation clearly that if I go into my garden and simply ask for some guidance that the beautiful Belladonna will help to open up my third eye, giving me the vision that I need to see and understand the situation more fully. Belladonna is also a powerful antispasmodic so those with chronic IBS, IBD and Crohns might easily benefit from spending a little bit of time in conversation with this ancient and very wise lady!
Once again, this is a very poisonous plant so please don't ever attempt to use it internally or even applied topically as a poultice or ointment ( it's actually part of a very old recipe that I have for a flying ointment!) without the consult of an incredibly experienced herbalist who has worked with it extensively.
Now for a little Belladonna by Siouxsie and the Banshees!
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