# 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)
#     http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/library/kohler/1763_010.jpg
#     http://130.60.70.1/GIFTDB/pict_02.htm
#
#     Hyoscyamus niger (henbane)
#     http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/library/kohler/1763_011.jpg
#     http://www.lysator.liu.se/runeberg/nordflor/110.html
#
#     Solanum nigrum (black nightshade)
#     http://axp.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/black_nightshade.html
#
#     Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet)
#     http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/poison/ppstsleurop.htm
#     http://www.lysator.liu.se/runeberg/nordflor/109.html
#
#   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, A.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: 
#   University of Vermont Library MS 2, fol. 39 (ca. 1500)
#   http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/immi/vm9437.htm
#   The medieval text calls that plant "Gran[i]a maggiore".  
#   The modern commentary tentatively identifies it with
#   Ecballium elaterium (Squirting Cucumber), 
#   http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/mi10/mi10043.jpg 
#   However the leaves do not match, and the flower barely so.
#   I have found no image or description of E.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.
#
