page_title: Physochlaina
section_title: A Glimpse of the Ethnobotany of Physochlaina orientalis in the extreme NW of Iran
hierarchical_section_title: Physochlaina / Westernmost species : P. orientalis / A Glimpse of the Ethnobotany of Physochlaina orientalis in the extreme NW of Iran
caption_attribution_description: Lake Urmia, Iran - October 1984
context_page_description: Physochlaina is a small genus of herbaceous perennial plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, found principally in the north-western provinces of China although one species occurs in Western Asia, while another is found as far east as those regions of Siberia abutting the eastern borders of Mongolia and, furthermore, not only in Mongolia itself, but also in 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 is a valuable one, since its species are not only of considerable medicinal value, being rich in tropane alkaloids, but also of ornamental value, three species having been grown for the purpose, although hitherto infrequently outside botanical gardens. Furthermore, the genus contains a species formerly used as an entheogen in Siberia.
context_section_description: In contrast to the case of its Siberian relative Physochlaina physaloides, ethnobotanical data concerning the Western Asian P. orientalis is somewhat sparse. A recent report from Urmia County and Silvaneh District in the Iranian province of West Azerbaijan is thus of particular interest. In 2014 the Iranian Students News Agency published an online report from the manager of the medicinal plants group of Urmia University concerning the 'detection' of medicinal properties in two plant species of the West Azerbaijani flora - one of which was Physochlaina orientalis. The locality given for the plants in question is 'Dalampir Heights of Urmia and Khoy' but is not clear from the context whether plant material from the locality  was collected and analysed for active constituents and/or information was gathered concerning the plants from a local informant with knowledge of the plants' properties. The I.S.N.A. article quotes from an interview with (Dr. ?) Abbas Siami, head of the Zarineh Khoi Institute of Higher Education in which he states the following:
  Thanks to the efforts of researchers at Zarineh Khoi University, the plant Physochlaina orientalis [was found at] Khoi Heights. It was discovered 'in therapeutic use' [?] at the Heights of Dalampur, Urmia. The Urmia University Department of Medicinal Plants, in describing the therapeutic properties of the plant said: "This plant is a sedative, nerve stimulant, analgesic, poison and hallucinogen".
  Transliterations of place names in the various languages of Iran from the original Perso-Arabic script forms into Latin script can often yield a confusing number of variant spellings - as is apparent in the variant forms Khoi and Khoy and the still more divergent Dalampur, Dalampir and 
  (with a variant medial consonant as well as vowel) Dalanpar Dalanper etc.
  Khoy / Khoi University likely refers to the Khoy campus of Urmia University, while the Heights of Dalampur (etc.) appears to designate an area of natural beauty and Iranian domestic  tourism encompassing a peak (37°9′N 44°47′E) which forms the tripoint of Iran, Iraq and Turkey, lying some 50km from the city of Urmia.
caption: Lake Urmia and its mountainous surroundings, seen from space (Heights of Dalampir and Khoi top left).
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