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.
[NAFEX] Poisonous Garden Huckleberry?,
Jim Fruth, 06/01/2007