Atropa pallidiflora (Atropa pallidiflora)

Description

“Pet poisonous” – Toxic parts: entire plant esp. seeds, roots Atropa pallidiflora is a close relative of the infamous deadly nightshade and, like it, is an extremely poisonous plant, containing a variety of tropane alkaloids valued in medicine for their anticholinergic, antispasmodic and mydriatic properties and deliriant in excess. Atropa pallidiflora is the least well-known of the four currently accepted species of Atropa and is endemic to the remarkable Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests of Northern Iran, which can boast all the species of Atropa currently recognised, with the sole exception of the strictly Ibero-Maghrebi A.baetica. The binomial Atropa pallidiflora was published by Eva Schönbeck-Temesy in volume 100 ('Solanaceae') of Karl Heinz Rechinger's monumental Flora Iranica in 1972. The specific name pallidiflora signifies 'bearing flowers of a pale, wan or washed-out hue' and, while appropriate, is not especially evocative, given that the flowers of most Atropa species are far from vivid (only the flowers of the yellow-flowered form (as opposed to the green) of Atropa baetica could be said to have a colour that is cheerful rather than sombre). The flowers of A. pallidiflora, like those of A.baetica, vary from greenish to yellow, but, as the designation 'having pallid flowers' might suggest, the yellow in question is a dingy greenish-yellow that is far from ornamental. The geographical term 'Hyrcanian' in the common name signifies that the plant is native to what was once the satrapy of Hyrcania, the name of which derives (via Ancient Greek) from an Iranian root meaning 'wolf' : Hyrcania is thus the 'Land of Wolves' ( - see also Gorgan). The name is an apt one, since the Hyrcanian forests have long been known as a hunting ground (or, in modern parlance, 'ecosystem') of legendary richness and beauty : the lush forests could support an abundance of large, mammalian herbivores, which in turn could support an abundance of apex predators - notably the wolf, but also the Persian leopard and even the tiger. The word 'Hyrcanian' (also its variant form 'Hyrcan') will be familiar to any diligent reader of the works of William Shakespeare, as an epithet of the proverbially savage (but now, sadly, extinct) Caspian Tiger, known to the dramatist from his reading of the works of various Latin authors - who, in turn, were familiar with the Ancient Greek coinage 'Hyrcania' and the lands adjoining the Caspian Sea to which the place name referred. Regarding the richness of the Hyrcanian flora - of which Atropa pallidiflora is a noteworthy element - it is worth mentioning that the name of the modern Iranian province of Golestan (which constitutes the easternmost portion of ancient Hyrcania) has the delightful meanings of 'Rose Garden' and 'Land of Flowers'.