H Y O S C Y A M U S nigOer.
Common Henbane.
P E N T A N U R I A Monogynia.
Gen. Char. Cor. funnel-fhaped, obtufe, irregular..
Stamina in cl i neck Capfule with a lid, two-celled.
Spec. Char. Leaves finuated, embracing the flem.
Flowers feffile.
Syn. Hyofcyamus niger. Linn. Sp. PI. 257. Hudf.
92. JVith.'i52. Relb. 90. Sibtb.fy. Abbot. 50.
Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 52.
H. vulgaris. Rail Syn: 274.
H E N B A N E is not uncommon in wade ground, about
villages, and by the fides of roads in dry dully places, more
efpecially on a calcareous foil, flowering in July.
Root annual, fpindle-lhaped. Stem bulhy, round, leafy.
Leaves alternate, feffile, ffiarply finuated. Spikes terminal, recurved,
leafy, Ample. Flowers feffile, ereCt. Calyx pitcher-
Ihaped, with a regular five-cleft border, reticulated with veins,
permanent. Corolla ftraw-eoloured, moft elegantly pencilled
with a net-work of purple veins. Antherae and ftyle purplifh.
Capfule clothed with the body of the calyx, divided into two'
cells, and clofed with a convex fmooth lid. Seeds numerous. ■
The whole herb is downy, vifcid, and extremely foetid,
though a flight degree of its odour is to fome people not un-
pleafant. Its qualities are highly and dangeroufly narcotic,
but like many other poifons, it may, under proper management
(as Dr. Withering obferves), prove an ufeful medicine.
The feeds and capfules together, frnoked as tobacco, are in fome.
places a popular remedy for the toothach, but convulfions
and temporary infanity fometimes follow its ufe. The feeds'
alone, abounding with oil which counteracts their noxious
properties, may be fafely eaten, as I have often in my youth1
experienced, having been told the plant was Clary, and having
then a predilection for its flavour. So the feeds of Poppies,
Which-have a very fweet nut-like tafte, may be eaten without
any narcotic effect.