#
# Identification:
#
#   * Title: "Petersen's belladonna"
#   * Page: f1v = AB (Rene) = p002 (Stolfi)
#   * Folio: f1
#   * Panels: f1v
#   * Bifolio: bA1 = f1+f8
#   * Quire: A (Rene) = I (Beinecke)
#
# Attributes:
#
#   * Language: A (Currier)
#   * Hand: 1 (Currier)
#   * Subsets: H (Rene), hea (Stolfi)
#   * Subject: herbal
#   * Colors: green,tan (Reeds), green,faded_yellow (Rene)
#   * Plant: 1 (Petersen)
#
# Description:
#
#   There is one plant drawing, centered on page. 
#
#     * Root: a knobby, warped, pancanke-like tuber with 
#       short roots attached like claws or fangs 
#       all around the rim. Light color.
#     * Stem: thick, well drawn. Light color.
#     * Branches: one straight up, two oblique with drooping tips.
#     * Leaves: broad lance-shape, with two short tails.
#       Stalk: short.
#     * Flowers: one, growing at the tip of the center branch.  
#       Stalk: very short.  Chalyx:
#       conical, continuous with petals.  Petals: short rounded,
#       light-colored.  Core: hemispherical, dark-colored
#       (could be a berry; see below).
#
#   Tere are two paragraphs (unit µ{P}) with 3.8 and 5.8 lines, just
#   below mid-page, left- and right-justified, interrupted by the
#   plant's main stem.
#
# Comments:
#
#   Part of this drawing (root and leaves only) is repeated on
#   Pharma page f102r1[3,2].
#
#   The plant looks basically normal, except for the very peculiar
#   root.
#
#   Petersen identifies the plant as "Solanum Solatrium, Belladonna"
#   specifically the "flower".  He says: "see L.Fuchs p.398".  There is
#   no ¶{Solanum:solatrium}; rather, "solatrium" is an ancient
#   (Dioscoridean) name for some or all of these species:
#
#     ¶{Atropa:Belladona} (deadly nightshade)
#     ¶{Hyoscyamus:niger} (henbane)
#     ¶{Solanum:nigrum} (black nightshade)
#     ¶{Solanum:dulcamara} (bittersweet)
#
#   and perhaps other somewhat less likely species such as 
#   ¶{Withania:somnifera} and ¶{Physalis:alkekengi}. 
#
#   The leaves of f1v seem most compatible those of
#   ¶{Atropa:belladonna} (shape) and ¶{Hyoscyamus:niger} (attachment
#   to stem), and the "flower" at the top of f1v does resemble the
#   sheathed, shiny black fruits of these two species.
#
#   However, ¶{Atropa:beladonna}'s root has been described as a roundish
#   rhizome with a long (up to 1m) tapering root, which does not seem
#   to match the highly distinctive "pancake with claws" of f1v. I
#   have found no image or description of the other plants' roots.
#
#   A very similar root, with quite different leaves, can be seen on
#   another Italian herbal [1]: The medieval text calls that plant
#   "Gran[i]a maggiore". The modern commentary tentatively identifies
#   it with ¶{Ecballium:elaterium} (Squirting Cucumber) I have found
#   no image or description of ¶{Ecballium:elaterium}'s roots.
#
#   All four plants are poisonous in varying degrees. The active
#   principles can be absorbed by smoking or through the skin as well
#   as by ingestion. They were used as potent psychoactive drugs,
#   causing paralysis of involuntary muscles, dizziness, sleep,
#   hallucinations, violent behavior, etc., and have been often
#   associated with witchcraft.
#
# References:
#
#   [1] University of Vermont Library MS 2, fol. 39 (ca. 1500)
#   http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/immi/vm9437.htm
#
# Last edited on 1999-04-15 03:58:28 by stolfi