Woody nightshade
Bittersweet; Dulcamara
- Known today as
- Solanum dulcamara, a climbing nightshade of hedges, with purple and yellow flowers and scarlet berries.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- solasodine, solanine, dulcamarine
- Poisoning
- Tropane (anticholinergic) poisoning
- Earliest authority here
- Culpeper (1616–1654)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 30, 2026.
Caution. The berries are poisonous, and attractive to children.
Woody nightshade: what was it used for?
The stalks in decoction, for skin complaints, rheumatism, and obstructions of the liver.
Woody nightshade: what does modern science say?
The berries and stems contain solanine and related alkaloids; it has no proven use.
Woody nightshade: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. The berries are poisonous, and attractive to children. Its poisoning is tropane (anticholinergic) poisoning: Thirty minutes to a few hours; longer from the skin. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- The steroidal glycoalkaloids inhibit cholinesterase and disrupt cell membranes; they are the same family as the solanine of green potatoes.
- Checked against ChEMBL
- solanine: No measurement in ChEMBL for “inhibit cholinesterase” (3 activities recorded, none against the target named); the line rests on its references.
- Toxic dose
- The berries have poisoned children, rarely fatally; the stems are far weaker.
- Syndrome
- Tropane (anticholinergic) poisoning
- Standing
- Approved in Germany as a traditional remedy for eczema, outwardly.
- Nelson, L. S., et al. (2007). Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants. Verified against its record · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-8926-3
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Woody nightshade: what lore surrounds it?
Its Latin name, “bitter-sweet,” is for the taste of the stalk, bitter then sweet. In England it was hung on cattle and about the necks of animals to guard them from the evil eye and witchcraft.
Woody nightshade: what did the older authorities say?
- Culpeper
- Opens the whole Herbal with this plant, under the name Amara Dulcis: “some call it Mortal, others Bitter-sweet; some Woody Night-shade, and others Felon-wort.” The berries, he says, taste “just as the crabs which we in Sussex call Bittersweet, viz. sweet at first and bitter afterwards.” It is a Mercurial herb, and “excellently good to remove witchcraft both in men and beasts, as also all sudden diseases whatsoever. Being tied round about the neck, is one of the most admirable remedies for the vertigo or dizziness in the head; and that is the reason (as Tragus saith) the people in Germany commonly hang it about their cattle's necks.” Country people bruise the berries and apply them to felons, “and thereby soon rid their fingers of such troublesome guests.”
Sources
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Nightshade, Woody.” Book, not indexed
- Gerard, J. (1597). The Herball. Verified against its record · doi:10.5962/bhl.title.99400
- Culpeper, N. (1653). The Complete Herbal, “Amara Dulcis.” Project Gutenberg #49513. Primary text
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- The mechanism read against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37): curated mechanisms and measured activity
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 4 cited: 2 verified against its record, 1 primary text, 1 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 30, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Woody nightshade.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/woody-nightshade.
- MLA
“Woody nightshade.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/woody-nightshade. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Woody nightshade. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/woody-nightshade
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See Also
Poisoned alike: tropane (anticholinergic) poisoning
Deadly nightshade · Thorn apple · Henbane · Nutmeg and clove · Mandrake · the syndrome, with all of them →
Also in Nicholas Culpeper
Yellow dock in Nicholas Culpeper · Wood sorrel in Nicholas Culpeper · Adder’s-tongue fern in Nicholas Culpeper · Woad in Nicholas Culpeper · everything Nicholas Culpeper names →
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve, Gerard, Culpeper, Nelson
Yarrow · Violet, lettuce, sow-thistle · Agrimony · Butterbur · Valerian · Caesar’s mushroom · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Wormwood, oil of (Artemisia absinthium) · Woodlouse · Yellow stainer · Witches’ butter (Black or yellow jelly fungi that swell on dead branches after rain)
Historical description, not medical advice.