'', showing hairy, lobed calyx and hairy, purple and green, urn-shaped corolla, netted with veins. Note curved pistil (bearing minutely hairy stigma) protruding beyond corolla. The existence of the synonym
Scopolia atropoides (i.e. "Atropa-like Scopolia") for
Scopolia carniolica demonstrates the perceived similarity between
Scopolia carniolica and its better-known relative Deadly Nightshade (
Atropa belladonna). The most obvious dissimilarity lies in the respective fruits, that of Scopolia being a pyxidium (i.e. a dry, pot-like capsule with an operculum (lid)) while that of Atropa is a juicy, glistening, jet-black berry bearing a superficial resemblance to a cherry - indeed this pyxidium / berry dichotomy constitutes the feature separating the genus Atropa into a subtribe of its own within the Solanaceous tribe
Hyoscyameae: all other genera in tribe Hyoscyameae have the same type of dry, pyxidial capsule as Scopolia. Other points of dissimilarity include: • Pedicel type:
Scopolia carniolica, long, slender and delicate /
Atropa belladonna, shorter and broadening toward the calyx - particularly at fruiting. • Calyx type:
Scopolia carniolica, cup-shaped, with slight peaks rather than distinct lobes /
Atropa belladonna distinctly lobed, the individual lobes somewhat leaf-like and these lobes spreading to make the calyx star-shaped in fruit. • Colour of corolla:
Scopolia carniolica, exterior: purplish-brown striped longitudinally with cream veins, interior: cream, except for some dark venation at the very base /
Atropa belladonna, dull purple shading to green netted with darker veins at the base. • Glabrescence / pubescence:
Scopolia carniolica, glabrous (hairless), the corolla often having a glossy, "enameled" appearance /
Atropa belladonna pubescent (hairy), the corolla and calyx being clothed in short trichomes (hairs) - though less so in those of its eastern subspecies
A. belladonna ssp. caucasica. • Corolla shape:
Scopolia carniolica, simple, un-lobed, straight-sided bell /
Atropa belladonna urceolate (= urn-shaped) bell bearing short but distinct lobes, somewhat recurved. • Pistil:
Scopolia carniolica, straight and shorter than corolla /
Atropa belladonna, curved and exserted (=protruding beyond corolla). ==Gallery==