to the region. This may be due to a popular recognition of a familial resemblance - particularly in regard to calyces inflated at fruiting - to several native Solanaceous plants of the Himalaya long used in traditional medical practices, the genera involved being Anisodus, Physochlaina, Przewalskia and Scopolia (all belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of subfamily Solanoideae). The much valued (and consequently over-harvested) species Anisodus tanguticus is perhaps particularly relevant in this context. Nicandra seeds have been used for at least a century in Southwestern China to produce the jelly used in the dessert known as bingfen (: literal translation: ice powder), known usually in the west as crystal jelly or ice jelly and said to have been invented in the Qing dynasty. The jelly is prepared by pouring a quantity of the small, plump, brown seeds into an envelope of cheesecloth, soaking them for a time and then scrubbing them vigorously in a bowl of mineral water in order to liberate the pectin which they contain. Slaked lime is then stirred into the pectin-rich solution, causing it to set after a few hours into a delicate, yellowish jelly of neutral flavour. This gelatinous product is relished, not for its taste, but for its intriguing and pleasant texture and it serves as a 'blank canvas' for a variety of flavourings - notably a locally produced, unrefined, brown sugar syrup with a molasses-like taste. Desserts based upon crystal jelly are particularly popular in the city of Chengdu, where they are valued both for the cooling relief they afford to those irked by the humid summer heat and the equally cooling contrast which they provide to the often highly spiced, local Sichuan cuisine (see also Mala (seasoning). In the southern United States, the juice of the plant has been mixed with milk as a poisoned bait for houseflies and blow flies in the same way in which the crumbled caps of the fungus Amanita muscaria were used in parts of Europe. However, the flies were said to be killed outright, rather than merely stupefied, as in the case of the mushroom/milk infusion. Chemistry Nicandra physalodes contains nicandrenones, a group of the steroidal lactones known as withanolides. The nicandrenones, like certain other types of withanolide, have insecticidal properties. 30 years after their discovery, the first total synthesis of nicandrenones was carried out in the year 2000. Amongst its other paradoxical attributes, N. physalodes is