Named for Atropos, one of the Fates of Greek mythology.

Perennial herbs to about 2 m tall. Leaves alternate, entire. Flowers mostly solitary, axillary. Calyx 5-lobed, widely spreading and enlarging around the fruit. Corolla bell-shaped, more or less 2-lipped. Stamens 5, attached at the base of the flower tube. Fruit a 2-chambered berry containing numerous seeds.

Seed and softwood cuttings.

A. belladonna the source of the drug belladonna.

Calyx persisting and enlarging around the fruit, the lobes spreading. In the only cultivated species the sap is red and the flowers dark-coloured.

4 species from W Europe to the Himalaya.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Solanaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.