Atropa

Atropa is a genus if flowering plants, in the nightshade family. They are herbaceous perennials, with large leaves, and shiny berries. These berries are particularly dangerous to children, because they look like cherries, but they are highly poisonous. Atropa species prefer temperate climates and alkaline soils. They often grow in light shade in woodland environments associated with limestone hills and mountains. Their seeds can remain viable in the soil for long periods, germinating when the soil of sites in which plants once grew (but from which plants have long been absent) is disturbed by human activity or by natural causes, e.g. the windthrow of trees (a property shared by the seeds of other Solanaceae in tribe Hyoscyameae e.g. those of Hyoscyamus spp., the henbanes). The best-known member of the genus Atropa is deadly nightshade ("A. belladonna") - the poisonous plant "par excellence" in the minds of many. The pharmacologically active ingredients of Atropa species include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, all tropane alkaloids having anticholinergic, deliriant, antispasmodic and mydriatic properties. The genus is named for Άτροπος ("Atropos") - lit. 'she who may not be turned (aside)' - one of the Three Fates and cutter of the thread of life / bringer of death - in reference to the extreme toxicity of "A.belladonna" and its fellow species - of which three others are currently accepted.
In some older classifications, the mandrake ("Mandragora officinarum") has been placed in the genus "Atropa", under the binomial "Atropa mandragora".