Myrddin's Garden
Aconitum Lycoctonum
Aconitum Napellus L.
Amanita Muscaria L.
Artemisia Absinthium L.
Arundo Donax L.
Atropa Belladonna L.
Cestrum Parqui
Cannabis Sativa L.
Claviceps Purpurea L.
Conium Maculatum L.
Datura Stramonium L.
Hyoscyamus Niger L.
Lactuca Virosa L.
Mandragora Officinalis L.
Papaver Somniferum L.
Phalaris Arundinacea L.
Psilocybe Semilanceata
Salvia Divinorum
Scopolia Carniolica
Bufo Vulgaris
Scopolia Carniolica
Scopolia
Scopolia Carniolica
Scopolia
Synonyms
Hyoscyamus scopolia L.
Scopolia hladnikiana
Scopolia longifolia
Scopolina atropoides
Scopolina hladnikiana
Scopolina viridiflom
Folk Names
Altsitzerkraut, deewa sales, durna rope (Lithu- anian, “crazy root”), glockenbilsenkraut, gotteskraut, krainer tollkraut, matragun (Romanian),289 mauda, maulda, piktrope (“evil root”), pometis ropes (“pometis root”), Russian belladonna, scopolia (Italian), scopolie, skopolia, skopolie, tollkraut, tollrube, volcic, walkenbaum.
This annual plant, which is typically 30 to 60 cm in height but can grow as tall as 80 cm, develops a fleshy, spindle-shaped root. The dull green leaves resemble those of the belladonna plant (Atropa belladonna), hence the name Russian belladonna.
The small, pendulous, campanulate flowers are purple to pale yellow in color and are similar in shape to henbane flowers (Hyoscyamus albus), hence the German name glockenbilsenkraut (“bell henbane”). The plant flowers from April to June. The fruit develops a capsule with a double partition and many small seeds.
Appearance
The plant occurs wild in the Alps, the Carpathian Mountains, and the Caucasus Mountains. It also grows in southeastern Europe (Slovenia), Lithuania, Latvia, and the Ukraine.
Distribution
Cultivation is very simple. In spring, the seeds are sown into seedbeds to germinate. Later, the seed- lings can be transplanted to the desired location. The plant does not tolerate a great deal of exposure to the sun, preferring dark, humid forests and calciferous humus soil. In Lithuania and Latvia, it has long been planted in gardens for use as a medicinal plant.
Cultivation
It is uncertain whether scopolia was known to the authors of antiquity. The “sleeping strychnos” (Strychnos hypnoticos) of Dioscorides (cf. Solanum spp.) has sometimes been interpreted as a Scopolia species. The genus was named for the naturalist Antonio Scopoli (1723-1788), who was the first to study and describe the flora of Slovenia. In Slovenia, the plant may once have been used to prepare witches’ ointments. In eastern Prussia, the root of the plant was used as a folk inebriant and aphrodisiac. It is said that women would use it to persuade young men to become their willing lovers. Sometimes some of the root was added to a person’s coffee (Coffea arabica) as a practical joke so that others could amuse themselves on the seemingly nonsensical behavior of the inebriated victim.
Today, the plant is used in the manufacture of L-hyoscyamine and atropine.
History
Scopolia carniolica was used in eastern European folk medicine in the same manner as Mandragora officinarum. In Lithuania, the plant was used to treat rheumatism, gout, toothaches, colic, and Parkinson’s disease; as a sedative for children and an aphrodisiac; and to induce abortions.
Medicinal Use
In eastern Prussia, Lithuania, and the Balkans, scopolia formerly was collected and used in magic in the same manner as mandrake (Mandragora officinarum). In the early twentieth century, only rudiments of this ritual use were still being practiced.
Ritual Use
Root (rhizoma scopoliae, scopoliae radix, scopolia root, glockenbilsen-krautwurzel, europaische scopoliawurzel)
Herbage (herba et radix scopoliae carniolicae)
Psychoactive Material
The entire plant contains hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids. The total alkaloid content averages around 0.5% but can range from 0.3 to 0.8%. The dried leaves contain 0.19% hyoscyamine and 0.13% scopolamine. The root contains approximately 0.5% scopolamine. Also present are the alkaloids cuscohygrine, tropine, and 3a-tigloyloxytropane. Chemotaxonomically, Scopolia is thus closely related to henbane (Hyoscyamus spp.). The alkaloid content of the dried roots can be as high as 1%.
In addition to the alkaloids, the entire plant also contains the coumarins scopoline and scopoletin as well as chlorogenic acid.
Constituents
The fresh root, when boiled and grated, can be eaten as a mush or taken in coffee (Coffea arabica). It also is added to beer or brewed with it in order to potentiate its effects. The root and the rootstock (scopoliae radix et rhizoma) are used. The root is dug up, dried, and used exactly as the belladonna root. The dried herbage, collected while the plant is in flower, can be smoked alone or in smoking blends.
Preparation and Dosage
Depending upon dosages, all preparations are capable of producing psychoactive effects that are very similar to those produced by henbane. Low doses induce aphrodisiac sensations, whereas “larger quantities of the root are inebriating and produce a condition associated with unpredictable, comic actions”. High doses have been observed to produce delirium, loss of awareness of reality, coma, severe pupillary dilation, headache, disturbances of coordination, and other symptoms typical of an overdose of Atropa belladonna, namely death.
Effects
Source: Christian Rätsch: The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants
