North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>]

Alan,
   Atropa belladonna is an Old World plant and if it exists in America, 
you'd probably find it in someone's garden.  Britton & Brown (Botanical 
Keys) doesn't list it, not even as a garden escape.
   If 'your' plant is a common weed, you likely have Solanum nigrum.  S. 
nigrum is a noxious weed, a scourge for farmers.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
For jams, jellies & syrups:
www.bberryfarm.com
(218)568-8483 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]

All of the ripe fruit photos of Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna)
that I can find in a Google image search show black colored berries
which is consistent with what I recall from the reference books.

In doing the search though I believe I have been misidentifying the
nightshade that is very common at my place.  I think it's not Atropa
belladonna at all, but rather Black Nightshade which seems to have
more than one binomial name in the quicky search I just did.  I'm
going to have to search out a blossoming plant now to see if it
actually is.  It's a common weed here.

.....Alan.