318 BOTANICAL NOTES; NOTICES^ AND QUERIES. [OctobeV, 



BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 



Biblical Botany. 



Cockle. — Nigella sativa, Heb. Ketzach, Job xxxi. 40, Isa. xxviii. 25. — 

 So the Rabbins explain the word, and the seeds of Nigella are used to 

 this day in the East as a sort of condiment. Sprengel, Hist. Rei Herb, 

 vol. i. p. 14. Compare Dioscorides, iii. 93, /xeXav^tov. Matthiolus, in 

 his commentaries on Dioscorides, mentions three kinds of Nigella, viz., 

 N. saliva, N. arvensis, and iV. damascena, 580. Bauhin added two other 

 species, viz. N. Jiispanica and N. orientalis. Omicuon. 



Henbane. 



" Hyoscyamus, sive ApoUinaris herba, (Altercum quoque veteribus 

 dicta,) propter nimium suam frigiditatem inter narcoticas plantas, id est, 

 stuporem inferentes, refertur, sumtaque copiosior etiam propter quandam 

 facultatem occultam amentiam parit. Unde hodie etiam incolse vallis 

 Ananife (ut Matthiolus refert) sua lingua propter hunc effectimi Italice 

 nominant Disturhio, id est, mentem turbans. Ad hyoscyamum quoque si 

 aves advolent, et potis. Semine ipsius non adeo ingrato pascantur, 

 tandem stupide in terram decidunt, ut facile capi possint, etc." 

 Camerarius, 85. 



' Ut volucres dementat Hyoscyami gravis herba, 

 Sic insaua stupent pectora divitiis.' " 



The above extract from ' Camerarius ' not only illustrates Sbakspeare's 

 lines, " Have we eaten of the insane root," etc., but also gives the reason 

 of the European name Henbane. Alpha. 



Cursed Juice of Hebenon. 



Dr. Grray says, Hebenon, a poetical modification of Henbane. "The 

 poisoning Henbane and the Mandrake dread." — Drayton, Barons' Wars. 



In Marlow's ' Jew of Malta ' there is the juice of Hebon {ebony) ; and 

 in Gower, " Hebenus, that sleepie Tree." There is a French tract entitled, 

 ' Hebenin, newly discovered, 4to.' Zeta. 



A LETHALE GiFT. 



(From ' Buchanan's History of Scotland.') 



" That gift was acceptable to the Norwegians not so much on the ac- 

 count of the Scots' bounty or their own penmy, as that they thought it 

 was a sign that their spirits were cowed, quite spent and broken. Where- 

 upon a great deal of bread and wine was sent them, both wine pressed 

 out of the grape, and also strong diink made of barley-malt mixed with 

 the juice of a poisonous herb, abundance of which grows in Scotland, 

 called Sleepy NigJdshade. The stalk of it is above two feet high, and in 

 its upper part spreads into branches ; the leaves are broadish, acuminated 

 at the extremities, and faintly green. The berries are great, and of a 

 black colour when they are ripe, which proceed out of the stalk under the 

 bottom of the leaves ; their taste is sweetish, and almost insipid ; it hath 

 a veiy small seed, as small as the grains of a fig. The virtue of the fi'uit, 

 root, and especially of the seed, is soporiferous, and will make men mad if 



