Belladonna

So the next one on our list is new to me.

Belladonna.

Isn't that a poisonous plant like Romeo and Juliet deadly? Why would anybody be using it for anything?

Well, it's been used for centuries.

The wych elm carried old and uneasy associations in English folklore, and the very word sounded like witch.

Murray even suggested that Bella might not be a name at all, but a shortening of Belladonna, also known as Deadly Nightshade, a poison bound up with witchcraft for centuries.

But there's an uglier part of Murray's theory, and it has to be called out.

She didn't only claim this was a ritual killing, she specifically blamed Romani people, who the newspapers of the time called Gypsies.

Question number one.

The plant Belladonna is also known as deadly what? Question number two.

Purple dragon, white satin and bolero are varieties of which vegetable? Question number three.

What is a female elephant called? Question number four.

Paul Merrifield's here with the answers on our Saturday pub quiz on Alfred.

Question one.

The plant Belladonna is also known as deadly what? Nightshade.

Question two.

Even warm liquids can be painful.

So you might think, well, then, but why Belladonna? Well, it's the first remedy to consider when the inflammation is intense, sudden onset, and dry and red.

And then the next question is, well, if I decide to use this, how do I administer it? Well, I like a 30th potency, 30C.

If you happen to only have 30X, that's really great.

One of

my

important teaching points is if it came on like a lightning strike and everything looks red and hot, Belladonna is a good medicine to consider.

So it's a good way to differentiate from others.

Because believing they work is its own kind of magic.

And since we're talking about plants, let's also talk about Belladonna.

Also called Deadly Nightshade, it plays a very different role in the story, showing up in a moment of crisis with tragic consequences rather than as a charm by the garden gate.

Belladonna has a genuine and well-documented history, historically tied to accounts of so-called flying ointments.

Though modern historians largely believe those accounts were exaggerated or coerced confessions rather than documented practice, it also has centuries of real medicinal use in extremely small, carefully measured doses, precisely because of the line between remedy and poison with this plant.

Bella Donna is toxic enough that

Not only that, the chemicals and stuff in shampoos wouldn't...

They're not Belladonna! They know exactly what chemical has poisoned her.

It's Belladonna.

They don't put Belladonna in shampoo and conditioner.

It weren't making sense, but it was just kind of like his word against hers really, isn't it? Fred just wasn't really buying it and so he went up to Graham's bedroom and he starts looking around, searching the whole place for Belladonna.

But he didn't find anything.

There was, well, there was nothing that he saw, anyway.

It is the steward of that plant.

And to get to the core of that plant, and I did it through Belladonna, and she cracked me open.

It was a terrifying experience.

I will not sugarcoat that.