A Bittersweet Discovery
NIA science writer Susan Cahill is
fairly certain that the plant at left is
bittersweet nightshade, also known,
poetically, as felonwort, violet-bloom
and woody nightshade. She found it
along a driveway beside Bldg. 15K
recently, and challenges campus
botanists to identify the plant below,
which was seen growing recently near
the corner of Cedar Ln. and
Rockville Pike, behind Bldg. 31.
Bittersweet was once used medicinally as an internal antirheumatic,
diuretic, narcotic, astringent and sedative, but now appears only to have
slight antibiotic activity. This may explain its former use as an external
remedy for sores.
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