Stephen Spitewinter

Also - as you've illustrated - persuade them to wear black or Urban Camo. So much easier to Photoshop 🙂

Atropa bella-donna - Wikipedia

Atropa belladonna

🧵/2
When I was a child a school friend ate some. He survived the poisoning but broke both his legs by throwing himself out of an upstairs window whilst hallucinating he was being attacked by monsters. You have been warned.

Good Wikipedia article
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_...

#plants #history #botany #art ☠️

Atropa belladonna - Deadly Nightshade

🧵/1
Deadly means just that - don't mess with it. Another Solanaceae, heavily laced with Atropine. Atropine was used as a cosmetic in the Early Modern Period (for dilating pupils) and is still a useful medication but...

🧵/next

Nice. In 1966 whilst on school trip I saw my one-and-only Deltic there resting on Platform 1, heading a southbound express.

I have never seen this before but I do so hope it's real 🙂

#plants #history #botany #art 🌳

Cinchona officinalis - Brown Peru Bark (many others)
Origin tropical S #America, many varieties of Cinchona but all are a source of the #medicine Quinine, the treatment for Malaria.

Originally presented as Tonic Water, still a popular mixer - just add London Gin 🥂

Possibly a big advantage for the rest of us 🙂

Well, so what? I paid Inheritance Tax on the estate of my late father and I didn't whine about it for a moment.

If Jill Lemon wants to pay no taxes then she should gather no benefit from society. No police, no fire brigade, no NHS medical treatment - nothing. How 'horrible' would that feel?

#plants #history #botany #art 🌼

Good morning! Only a few weeks to go until the year-end and I for one will need a rest break. We live in interesting times 🙁

A few more useful medical plants this week, then on to something lighter as we run up to the New Year.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Salix alba - Common Willow

Common to temperate N Hemisphere. One of the original sources of the #medicine Salicin which is NOT Aspirin. Aspirin was synthesised from Salicin (extracted from Meadowsweet) by Bayer c1897.

Salicin ref:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicin

I am. I'm damp. My energy bill is uncomfortable.

You can put an extra 2000 characters in the ALT box but it doesn't open unless you attach a picture. (Leftmost of the three buttons at the bottom.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌳

Highgate Cemetery, North London 🇬🇧. Karl Marx rises to glare down at the ruins of Victorian society.

One final view of Autumn 2025. I don't usually post photographs but a good friend took it today and the last leaves are still hanging.

I live in such a house c1890. My experience is that the thermal stability of 14" brickwork is a big advantage.

#plants #history #botany #art

This may be the last Autumnal theme for this year. The evenings in 🇬🇧 have been dark and cold this week, and snow is falling not far to the north of me.

Enjoy your weekend!

Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939)
'Autumn in a Russian village'
Early C20th
Oils on Panel

#plants #history #botany #art #medicine #livingfossil 🌱

Ephedra distachya - Sea Grape

Ancient plant that has changed little in the last 100 million years. Source of the stimulant Ephedrine, first isolated by Nagayoshi Nagai c1885.

Cambridge Botanic ref:
www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/learning/tra...

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Papaver somniferum - Opium Poppy

Victorian drug of choice (Laudanum, Opium diluted in alcohol) exploited by the 🇬🇧East India Company.

Original source of the #medicine Morphine, the greatest advance in pain relief.

Good read:
herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/plants40...

Yup. That's the one.

I wouldn't recommend eating one but I have read that the further away from the tropics it grows then the lower the tropane alkaloid content. It seems like the plant senses that the local predators aren't as dangerous and doesn't waste as much energy synthesising poisons.

Always a good read...

Always a good read...

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Solanum incanum - Thorn Apple

Datura stramonium is also known as 'Thorn Apple' but NOT this one - don't confuse.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Datura stramonium - Jjimson Weed, Devil's Trumpet.
Origin Isthmus of Darien & Mexico, spread world wide.

It's a Solanaceae and an original source of the #medicine (s) atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. (There are others.)

refs
www.rhs.org.uk/plants/5355/...

I am indebted to you all for keeping such a good watch. Credit where due...

I first posted this a year ago, but this is a better plate and over 20 million new users have come in since then. I thought it was worth a fresh start.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Digitalis purpurea - Common Foxglove

Original source of the cardiac #medicine Digoxin / Digitalin.

First clues from William Withering in 1785 who used it to treat Dropsy. Digoxin was isolated c1930 by Dr Sydney Smith.

General ref:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitalis

(Actually Monday was still 90mins away when I posted this. I hit the send button whist distracted, but what the hell.)

Just don't leave me in charge of any very heavy weapons...

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Well, Monday got here! (He said, whist putting away a mop and bucket.) Storm Claudia got trapped squarely over my house by two opposing pressure systems for 48 hours. Wet, wet, wet... 🙁

Everyone else in 🇬🇧 OK? Let's have a good week. Plant Medicines and Poisons?

They worked hard and did a vital job at a time of grave danger to our way of life. It was a time when my mother and grandmother had to queue for half an hour to buy a couple of onions.

I am proud of them.

Please forgive me, but I'm curious. What happens if the Universities invest heavily and rapidly in AI - money and academic time - and then there's a loud 'pop' as the bubble bursts? Who will compensate them? You?

Ah... Not my ledger... A picture I picked up to anchor the ALT text to. The ALT won't enter unless it has an image to attach to.

Looked in keeping with the subject, though 🙂