Scopolia: taxon details and analytics

Domain
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Tracheophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Solanales
Family
Solanaceae
Genus
Scopolia
Species
Scientific Name
Scopolia

Summary description from Wikipedia:

Scopolia

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.

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Scopolia in languages:

Chinese
歐莨菪屬
Czech
pablen
English
scopolias
Finnish
skopoliat
Korean
미치광이풀속
Lithuanian
Skopolija
Polish
lulecznica
Russian
Скополия
Swedish
dårörter
Ukrainian
Скополія

Images from inaturalist.org observations:

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Scopolia
©onidiras-iNaturalist, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Scopolia
©Olga Onishchenko, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)