SOLANACEiE. 107 



common in the Boraginacese. Calyx with an ovoid tube and a 

 funnel-shaped limb, divided about halfway down into 5 triangular 

 teeth with spinous points. Corolla 1 to IJ inch across, funnel- 

 shaped, ochreous, prettily veined with a network of dark-purple 

 veins, except in var. j3 ; the two lobes next the axis smaller than 

 the others, and separated from each other by a much deeper sinus 

 than that between the other lobes. Anthers purple. Capsule 

 completely enclosed within the calyx, the upper portion constricted 

 and separating like a lid. Eruiting-calyx with longitudinal veins ; 

 the limb reticulated. Seeds very numerous, small, brownish, 

 coarsely punctured. Whole plant foetid, pale-green, clammy ; the 

 stems, calyx, and veins of the leaves thickly covered with shaggy 

 jointed hairs, the rest of the leaves sparingly hairy and puberulent. 



Common ILenbane. 



French, Jusquiame Noire. German, Schwarze BUsenkraut. 



All parts of this well-known and pretty plant are poisonoiis. In small doses it 

 acts as a sedative, diminishing nervous excitability, allaying irritation, tranquillizing 

 the whole body, and producing a tendency to sleep. These effects are not usually 

 followed by the headache and disorder of the digestive organs which succeed the use 

 of opium in any form. Hence it is often preferred to that drug when an anodyne is 

 required. In large doses it causes dimness of sight, faintness, delirium, and sometimes 

 death. Accidental cases of poisoning by Henbane are not very common, as the smell 

 and taste of the plant are so unpleasant as to prevent its being mistaken for any 

 esculent vegetable ; but the roots have been sometimes gathered and eaten. A woman 

 is related to have collected a quantity in mistake for parsnips. They were boiled in 

 soup, of which nine persons in the family partook, without remarking any particular 

 taste. The whole of the party were soon seized with indistinctness of vision, 

 giddiness, and sleepiness, followed by delirium and convulsion. The special effect of 

 this poisonous plant is manifested in its tendency to produce a general paralysis of the 

 nervous system. As an instance of the singular train of symptoms occasionally 

 produced by it, Dr. Houlton states, that in a monastery where the roots had been 

 eaten for supper by mistake, the monks who partook of them were seized in the 

 night with the most extraordinary hallucinations, so that the place became like a 

 lunatic asylum. One monk rang the bell for matins at 12 o'clock at night ; of those 

 of the fraternity who attended to the summons, some could read, others fancied the 

 letters were running about like ants, and some read what they did not find in their 

 books. The utility of Henbane as a medicinal agent has lately been denied by some 

 French writers ; but British experience seems to be in its favour, for we find it 

 retained in the new Pharmacopoeia as an extract and tincture. Probably its chief 

 consumption nowadays is in spasmodic diseases, such as croup, cough, &c., and in 

 combination with purgatives, such as the compound colocynth mixture. In such 

 demand is the Henbane for medicinal purposes, that it is necessary to cultivate it, the 

 wild plants not yielding sufficient supply. A great quantity is raised in gardens at 

 Mitcham, in Surrey, and carefully dried for use. Two varieties are grown, one annual 

 and one biennial ; the latter is fit for iise the second year. One hundred pounds of the 

 fresh leaves yield about fourteen when dried. Gerarde, in his Herbal, dilates 



