A common weed in the United States, the red-berried woody nightshade is far less poisonous than the black-fruited deadly nightshade, which belongs to another genus in the Solanaceae.
This woody vine is also known in the U. S. as “bittersweet,” a literal translation of the species name dulcamara. Unlike other nightshades, which had sinister associations, woody nightshade was wreathed around the necks of sheep and cattle to protect them from bewitchment. This positive connotation may have derived from the red color of the fruit. The color red is believed to be apotropaic in many cultures.