Scopolia

This article is about the plant genus Scopolia. For the moth genus Scopolia, see Scopolia (moth).

Scopolia
Scopolia carniolica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Solanales
Family:	Solanaceae
Subfamily:	Solanoideae
Tribe:	Hyoscyameae
Genus:	Scopolia Lam.
Species
Scopolia carniolica Scopolia caucasica Scopolia japonica Scopolia lutescens

Scopolia is a genus of four species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae, native to Europe and Asia. The genus is named after Giovanni Scopoli (1723–88), a Tyrolean naturalist. The genus has a disjunct distribution, with two recognised species in Central to Eastern Europe, (including the Caucasus), and two species in East Asia. The two European species are:

• Scopolia carniolica Jacq. of Slovenia, Austria and the Carpathian Mountains
• Scopolia caucasica Kolesn. ex Kreyer of the Caucasus

and the two Asiatic species are:

• Scopolia lutescens Y.N. Lee of Korea
• Scopolia japonica Maxim. of Japan

The four species in the equally medicinal genus Anisodus

• Anisodus tanguticus (Maxim.) Pascher
• Anisodus luridus Link ex Spreng.
• Anisodus carniolicoides (C.Y.Wu & C.Chen) D'Arcy & Z.Y.Zhang
• Anisodus acutangulus C.Y.Wu & C.Chen

have in the past been placed in the genus Scopolia, as has the monotypic genus Atropanthe with its single species Atropanthe sinensis Pascher.

Scopolia carniolica - the longest-known species and the one with the westernmost distribution - is a creeping perennial plant, with light green leaves and dull reddish-purple flowers (cream-to-yellow in the attractive and more ornamental form hladnikiana, sometimes cultivated as a decorative plant). Extract of Scopolia (which contains a form of the alkaloid scopolamine) is used in at least one commercial stomach remedy (Inosea, produced by Sato Pharmaceutical). The extract is an anti-spasmodic in low doses and may be used to relax smooth muscle tissue or prevent motion-sickness-induced nausea; in higher doses, it is a poison having hallucinogenic and memory-inhibiting effects.

Other alkaloids found in Scopolia carniolica include cuscohygrine, hyoscyamine, and atroscine.

The coumarin phenylpropanoids umbelliferone and scopoletin have been isolated from the roots of Scopolia japonica.

Comparison of Scopolia carniolica with Atropa belladonna

Single flower of Scopolia carniolica, showing hairless, cup-shaped, only faintly-lobed calyx and cream-veined, purple-brown corolla

Single flower of Atropa belladonna, showing hairy, lobed calyx and hairy, purple and green, urn-shaped corolla, netted with veins. Note curved pistil (bearing minutely hairy stigma) protruding beyond corolla.

Close up of cream-coloured interiors of two flowers of Scopolia carniolica (some dark venation visible at very bases of flowers)

Close-up of purple and green interior, netted with veins, of single flower of Atropa belladonna. Note stamens curling inward towards mouth of flower.

Scopolia carniolica fruit with cup-shaped calyx slit to reveal pyxidium (dry capsule dehiscing by operculum (= lid) to reveal seeds)

Atropa belladonna indehiscent fruit: glossy, juicy berry with distinctly lobed, star-shaped calyx

The existence of the synonym Scopolia atropoides (i.e. "Atropa-like Scopolia") for Scopolia carniolica demonstrates the perceived similarity between Scopolia carniolica and its better-known relative Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna). The most obvious dissimilarity lies in the respective fruits, that of Scopolia being a pyxidium (i.e. a dry, pot-like capsule with an operculum (lid)) while that of Atropa is a juicy, glistening, jet-black berry bearing a superficial resemblance to a cherry - indeed this pyxidium / berry dichotomy constitutes the feature separating the genus Atropa into a subtribe of its own within the Solanaceous tribe Hyoscyameae: all other genera in tribe Hyoscyameae have the same type of dry, pyxidial capsule as Scopolia. Other points of dissimilarity include:

• Pedicel type: Scopolia carniolica, long, slender and delicate / Atropa belladonna, shorter and broadening toward the calyx - particularly at fruiting.
• Calyx type: Scopolia carniolica, cup-shaped, with slight peaks rather than distinct lobes / Atropa belladonna distinctly lobed, the individual lobes somewhat leaf-like and these lobes spreading to make the calyx star-shaped in fruit.
• Colour of corolla: Scopolia carniolica, exterior: purplish-brown striped longitudinally with cream veins, interior: cream, except for some dark venation at the very base / Atropa belladonna, dull purple shading to green netted with darker veins at the base.
• Glabrescence / pubescence: Scopolia carniolica, glabrous (hairless), the corolla often having a glossy, "enameled" appearance / Atropa belladonna pubescent (hairy), the corolla and calyx being clothed in short trichomes (hairs) - though less so in those of its eastern subspecies A. belladonna ssp. caucasica.
• Corolla shape: Scopolia carniolica, simple, un-lobed, straight-sided bell / Atropa belladonna urceolate (= urn-shaped) bell bearing short but distinct lobes, somewhat recurved.
• Pistil: Scopolia carniolica, straight and shorter than corolla / Atropa belladonna, curved and exserted (=protruding beyond corolla).

Gallery

• 
  Scopolia carniolica fresh Spring growth with abundant flowers, old arboretum, Finland.
• 
  Scopolia caucasica in flower, showing distinctive corolla shape - more flared than in other species
• 
  Scopolia japonica (Common name in Japanese: 走りどころ Hashiri-dokoro), plant in flower, Korea.
• 
  Scopoliae Rhizoma (root of Scopolia japonica)

Further reading

• Ben-Wyk, Erik; Wink, Michael (2004). Medicinal Plants of the World. Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-602-7.
• Huang, Kee Chang; Williams, Walter (1999). The pharmacology of Chinese herbs. CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-1665-0.
• D'Arcy, William G. (1986). Solanaceae. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-05780-6.