Bittersweet
Solanum dulcamara
The berries taste of what they are: a little sweet, then bitter, then worse.
Overview
Bittersweet is the nightshade of hedgerows and damp places — a scrambling, woody-based climber that drapes itself over other vegetation and produces, in autumn, small oval berries that ripen through green to yellow to red in clusters that look precisely like miniature cherry tomatoes. They are in the same family as the tomato, the potato, the pepper, and belladonna, and they share with the last of these a roster of alkaloids — solanine and solanidine primarily — that make them genuinely toxic, particularly to children, though considerably less acutely so than belladonna. The name bittersweet is accurate: the berries have an initial sweetness before the bitterness of the alkaloids follows, and then the bitterness has consequences. The plant was not confused with food by those who knew plants. It has been confused since, by those who do not.
Botanical Notes
A scrambling perennial with woody lower stems reaching 1–2 metres through surrounding vegetation, with alternate, sometimes lobed or eared leaves. Flowers are reflexed purple petals with a prominent yellow anther cone — identical in form to tomato and potato flowers — from May to September. Berries are oval, 1cm, ripening from green through yellow to bright red, in pendant clusters, all stages sometimes present simultaneously. Common in hedgerows, woodland margins, waste ground, and damp disturbed soil throughout Europe and North America. The alkaloids solanine and solasonine are present throughout, concentrated in unripe berries.
Lore & History
Bittersweet appears in Culpeper under the name "Woody Nightshade" and in countless herbals as a mild narcotic and discutient — a herb that discussed and dispersed swellings, bruises, and skin eruptions. It was used externally in poultices and internally in decoctions for rheumatism, obstinate skin conditions, and what earlier herbals listed as "the king's evil" — scrofula, a form of tuberculosis of the lymph nodes. The genus Solanum takes its name from the Latin solamen, solace or comfort, because some members of the family were used for pain. The plants in this family have given us the potato, the tomato, and aubergine; they have also given us belladonna, henbane, datura, and mandrake. The family is one of the more consequential in human history.
Warnings
All parts contain solanine and related alkaloids. The unripe green berries are most toxic; the ripe red berries are less so but still dangerous in quantity, particularly for children. Symptoms of bittersweet poisoning include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, drowsiness, and in severe cases, respiratory depression. Seek medical attention if children have eaten the berries. Do not confuse the ripe red berries with any edible red berry — the distinctive reflexed purple flowers are the key identification feature during the growing season.