316 PENTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Hyoscyamus. 



of the tube, awl-shaped, inclining, somewhat unequal in 

 length. Anth. heart-shaped, incumbent. Germ, round- 

 ish. Slijle thread-shaped, reclining, the length of the 

 longer stamens. Stigma capitate. Caps, ovate, filling the 

 body of the calyx, obtuse, marked with a longitudinal 

 furrow at each side, of 2 cells, opening transversely by a 

 convex lid ; receptacles oblong, convex, attached to the 

 perpendicular partition. Seeds numerous, obovate, curved, 

 dotted, covering the receptacles. 

 Downy, fetid, narcotic herbs, occasionally somewhat 

 shrubby. Stem round, branched. Leaves alternate, si- 

 nuated or angular. FL axillary, solitary, yellow or 

 whitish, variegated with purple. 



1. H. ?iigcr. Common Henbane. 



Leaves sinuated, clasping the stem. Flowers sessile. 



H. niger. Linn. Sp. PL 257. Willd.v. 1. 1010. FLBr.254. Engl 

 Bot. v. 9. t. 591. Woodv. Med, Bot. t. 52. Sims in Curt. Mag. 

 t. 2394. Hook. Scot. 78. Ger. Em. 353./. Dreves Bilderb. t. 47. 

 Bull. Fr. t. 93. FL Dan. t. 1452. 



H.n.580. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 254. 



H. vulgaris. Raii Syn. 274. 



Kyoscyamus. Brunf. Herb. v. I. 224./. Trag. Hist. 132. t. 133. 

 Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 410./. Camer. Epit. 807./ Riv. Monop. Irr. 

 t. 102. 



H. flavus. Fuchs. Hist. 833./ 



On waste ground, banks, and commons, especially in a dry chalky 

 soil. 



Annual. July. 



Root spindle-shaped. Stem bushy. Leaves sessile, soft and pliant, 

 sharply lobed, downy and viscid, exhaling a powerful and op- 

 pressive odour, like all the rest of the plant. FL numerous from 

 the bosoms of the crowded upper leaves, almost entirely sessile, 

 of an elegant straw-colour, pencilled with dark-purple veins. A 

 variety without these veins, mentioned by several writers, was 

 found at Fincham in Norfolk, by the Rev. R. Forby, with an in- 

 termediate kind, very faintly veiny. The capsules and seeds of 

 Henbane, smoked like tobacco, are a rustic remedy for the tooth- 

 ache ; but convulsions and temporary insanity are said to be 

 sometimes the consequences of their use. The seeds, abounding 

 with oil, may safely be eaten raw, at least in small quantities ; 

 and an extract of the herb, very cautiously administered, is re- 

 commended by some physicians as an opiate. 



