What is Atropa?
{{Automatic taxobox | image = Atropa belladonna (16421213557).jpg | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Atropa | authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?1147 |title=''Atropa'' L. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2009-09-01 |accessdate=2010-01-30}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 4 accepted }} '''Atropa''' is a [[genus]] of flowering plants, in the [[nightshade]] family. They are [[herbaceous plant|herbaceous]] [[perennial]]s, with large leaves, and shiny berries. These berries are particularly dangerous to children, because they look like cherries, but they are highly [[poison]]ous.<ref>''A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants : A Handbook for Pharmacists, Doctors, Toxicologists, and Biologists'' by Frohne, Dietrich and Pfänder, Hans Jürgen of University of Kiel, translated from second German edition by Norman Grainger Bisset, London : a Wolfe Science Book and one of the volumes in the illustrated series Wolfe Atlases, pub. Wolfe Publishing Ltd. 1984.</ref> Atropa species prefer [[temperate]] climates and [[alkaline]] soils. They often grow in light shade in [[woodland]]s near [[limestone]] hills and mountains.<ref>Flora Europaea, Tutin T.G., Heywood V.H. and Burgess N.A. pub. Cambridge University Press 2010 {{ISBN|0521154065}}</ref><ref>Flora Iberica http://www.floraiberica.es/floraiberica/texto/pdfs/11_134_10_Atropa.pdf</ref> Their seeds can remain viable in the soil for long periods, [[germination|germinating]] when the soil of sites in which plants once grew (but from which plants have long been absent) is disturbed by human activity<ref>HERRERA, C.M.(1987). Distribucion, ecologia y conservacion de Atropa baetica Willk. (Solanaceae) en la Sierra de Cazorla. Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 43(2):387-398. http://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2965654.pdf</ref> or by natural causes, e.g. the [[windthrow]] of trees.<ref>''Flora Britannica'' pps. 300-301, Mabey, Richard,