SOLANACE^E 



109 



Belladonna is much used in medicine, especially 

 for the relief of pain, either as an internal medica- 

 tion or as an external application, generally com- 

 bined with heat. It is also used in ophthalmic 

 surgery, and has the peculiar property of dilating 

 the pupil of the eye. In poisoning by this plant, 

 death is due to failure of the heart's action. 



Henbane — Hyoscyamus niger 



(Plate LXVII) 



This is another handsome plant, which grows 

 to a height of about two feet on waste ground, 

 especially on a chalky soil. It is a biennial, and 

 flowers in July and August. It has a long white 

 fleshy root and an upright stem. The leaves and 

 branches are alternate. The leaves are sessile, 

 pinnate, and deeply dentated, and embrace the 

 stem at their base. The flowers are sessile, and 

 at the end of the stalk and branches they form 

 a small loose head, surrounded with small bracts. 

 The corolla is dull yellow, with a network of 

 purplish veins ; the tube is dark red. The whole 



plant is hairy, succulent, and viscid, and emits a 

 very unpleasant odour. It is well known as a 

 poisonous plant, though it is very doubtful whether 

 Shakespeare's story of the murder of Hamlet's 

 father, by pouring the " juice of cursed hebenon " 

 into his ears, would have been possible. Like 

 belladonna, it is a sedative, and is used to relieve 

 pain. 



Another poisonous plant naturalised in Britain 

 is the Thorn Apple {Datura Stramonium), origin- 

 ally a native of America. It is an annual, growing 

 upwards of two feet high, and has very large 

 toothed leaves, a very long tubular calyx, and a 

 large white 5-lobed corolla. The fruit is green 

 outside, and covered with spines ; it is as large as 

 a walnut. The plant is found occasionally growing 

 on waste ground. Its medicinal action resembles 

 atropine, and its principal use is in asthma. 



The caterpillar of the largest of our British 

 moths, the Death's-head Hawk-moth {Acherontia 

 Atropos), feeds chiefly on Solanacece, and more 

 especially on the leaves of the Potato. It is 

 yellow, greenish, or blackish, with oblique purplish 



