Nightshade

Solanum nigrum

HRB-0210Entry “NIGHTSHADE” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

Open in the Concordance

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernUnripe green berries carry solanine; Queensland Health says to get care past three. Ripe berries are usually harmless. Culpeper: "Have a care you mistake not the deadly Nightshade for this."EFSA: solanineEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Saturn, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 4, under 4 headings

  1. InflammationsCLM-000940
    The common Nightshade is wholly used to cool hot inflammations either inwardly or outwardly, being no ways dangerous to any that use it, as most of the rest of the Nightshades are;
    QUO-000716Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. ShinglesCLM-001507
    It also doth much good for the shingles, ringworms, and in all running, fretting and corroding ulcers, applied thereunto.
    QUO-001021Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. SwellingsCLM-001823
    And Pliny saith, it is good for hot swellings under the throat.
    QUO-001166Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. UlcersCLM-001978
    It also doth much good for the shingles, ringworms, and in all running, fretting and corroding ulcers, applied thereunto.
    QUO-001021Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.