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Atropa belladonna, more commonly known as [b]deadly nightshade[/i] is laden with the alkaloid atropine, which is both poisonous and medically valuable.

Symptoms of belladonna poisoning include dilated pupils, tachycardia, hallucinations, blurred vision, loss of balance, a feeling of flight, a sense of suffocation, and paleness followed by a red rash.

Atropine serves as a drug with a wide variety of effects: Eydrops containing atropine are used to temporarily paralyze the muscles that focus the eye and to dilate the pupils. Injections of atropine are used in the treatment of bradycardia (an extremely low heart rate) and cardiac arrest. Atropine also serves as an antidote for poisoning by organophosphate insecticides and nerve gases, such as Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), Soman (GD) and VX.