Author:
Jan Scholten
Book:
Wonderful Plants
Type:
Picture
Chapter:
665.71.00
665.71.00 Daturoideae
Content: tropane alkaloids: atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine.
Genera: Anisodus, Atropa, Brugmansia, Datura, Dyssochroma, Exodeconus, Hawkesiophyton, Hyoscyamus, Huanolloa, Mandragora, Methyscodendron, Physochlaina, Solandra.
Taxonomy
The Subfamily of Daturoideae contains also the subfamilies of Hyoscyameae, Mandragoreae Nicandreae and Solandreae. It depends on the author how the subfamilies are divided.
In the Plant theory they are taken together. They contain especially the tropane alkaloids: atropin, hyoscyanin and scopolamine.
Introduction
The members of the Daturoideae are the most well-known of the Solanaceae: Belladonna, Hysoscyamus, Stramonium and Mandragora. They have given the family its well-known picture. It is that of an acute and violent state, of terror and violence, mania and epilepsy.
We see in this the acute manifestations of Subphase 1, the Lithium aspect. Belladonna and Hyoscyamus are known for their high content of Lithium.
The theme of death and dragon is combined with the acuteness of Phase 1. The theme of violence and being expelled is combined with the mania of Lithium. The epilepsy and psychotic tendencies of the Solanaceae are the most prominent in the Daturoideae which is in Subphase 1.
The threat or darkness is felt first as if coming from the outer world, for instance in Stramonium where they have the idea that they live in a wilderness and wild animals can attack them at any moment, but the dark danger can also come from within, the unconscious world with all the unimaginable threats. They have the feeling that they cannot control their own inner world with all their great impulses. They often feel possessed, by the devil, by the darkness, by the anger from inside.
The name Mandragora, mandrake, symbolises the fight between man and drake, the dragon. It is the fight with the inner dragon, the instincts they have to conquer before one can really become human. It is the hero that has to fight the dragon in order to free the princess, the soul. The Solanales are in a way the last episode before one really becomes human and is not a victim anymore of their own instincts.
They experience situations as acute threats and feel that they have to react to them immediately.
Mind
Hallucinations.
Fear: dark, light; hell, devil; monsters; violence, violent animals, dogs, lions.
Body
General: anticholinergics.
Nervous: ataxia; convulsions, coma, death.
Eyes: dilated pupils.
Mouth: dry.
Urinary: retention.