Solanaceous plants, such as genus Atropa, Datura, Duboisia, Hyoscyamus, and Scopolia are regarded as rich sources of alkaloids, namely of the pharmaceutically interesting tropane derivatives. The principal alkaloids of medicinal interest in this group are hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which act as anticholinergic agents in parasympathetic nervous system. They are used as mydriatics and spasmolytics. Although the chemical synthesis of these alkaloids has been described in this chapter, the drugs are still produced exclusively from plant materials. This chapter demonstrates the establishment of the adventitious and the hairy root cultures of several solanaceous plant species including Datura, Duboisia, Hyoscyamus, and Scopolia for the production and biosynthetic studies of tropane alkaloids. In addition, the isolation and structural elucidation of the new tropane alkaloid 7β-hydroxyhyoscyamine and the piperidone alkaloid hyalbidone from them is also presented. © 1995 Elsevier B.V.