Geograph - photograph every grid square

Deadly Nightshade at Chelsea Physic Garden

In the garden there are beds containing plants useful in various areas of medicine - e.g. gastroenterology, dermatology - and two in which Deadly Nightshade is useful - cardiology and opthalmology. In the latter, opthalmic surgeons use atropine from deadly nightshade - Atropa Belladonna - to dilate the pupil for access to the back of the eye. In cardiology, atropine is used to speed up the heart rate. There are many uses in traditional medicine - and as its name implies it is poisonous.