Physochlaina

Physochlaina is a small genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, found principally in the north-western provinces of China (and regions adjoining these in the Himalaya and Central Asia) although one species occurs in Western Asia, while others occur in Siberia, Mongolia and the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. Some sources maintain that the widespread species P. physaloides is found also in Japan, but the species is not recorded as being native in one of the few English-language floras of the country. The genus has medicinal value, being rich in tropane alkaloids, and is also of ornamental value, three species having been grown for ornament, although hitherto infrequently outside botanical gardens. Furthermore, the genus contains a species (P. physaloides – recorded in older literature under the synonyms Hyoscyamus physalodes, Hyoscyamus physaloides and Scopolia physaloides) formerly used as an entheogen in Siberia (re. which see translation of Gmelin's account of such use below).

Derivation of genus name

The name Physochlaina is a compound of the Greek words φυσα (phusa), 'bladder' / 'bubble' / 'inflated thing' and χλαινα (chlaina), 'robe' / 'loose outer garment' / 'cloak' / 'wrapper' – giving the meaning 'clad loosely in a puffed-up bladder' – in reference to the calyces of the plants, which become enlarged and sometimes bladder-like in fruit – like those of the much better known Solanaceous genera Physalis, Withania and Nicandra, from which they differ in enclosing, not berries, but box-like pyxidial capsules, like those of Hyoscyamus (see below). The variant spelling Physochlaena – as employed by Professor Eva Schönbeck-Temesy in her section on the Solanaceae for Flora Iranica – appears first on page 737 of Volume 22 of the German-language journal Linnaea for the year 1849.

Publication of genus name

The genus name Physochlaina was first published in 1838 by Scottish botanist George Don (great-uncle of Monty Don) on page 470 of volume IV of his four-volume work A General System of Gardening and Botany, often referred to as Gen. Hist. (an abbreviation of the alternative title A General History of the Dichlamydeous Plants) and written between 1832 and 1838.