2I 4 



FLOWERS OF WASTE PLACES, ETC. 



Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger, L.) 



Like Deadly Nightshade, this southern plant is of quite modern 

 origin apparently. It is found in the North Temperate Zone in 

 Europe, N. Africa, N.W. Asia, and India. In Great Britain it grows 

 in the Peninsula, Channel, Thames, Anglia, Severn provinces; in 

 S. Wales, not in Brecon or Radnor; in N. Wales, not in Merioneth 



or Flint; in the Trent province; in the 

 Mersey district, H umber, Tyne, Lakes 

 province; in the W. Lowlands except 

 in Dumfries or Kirkcudbright; in the 

 E. Lowlands except in Peebles, Sel- 

 kirk, Linlithgow; in Fife, Perth, Forfar, 

 and Dumbarton. It is not native in 

 Scotland, and occurs in Ireland and 

 the Channel Islands. 



Henbane is nowhere common, but 

 is found here and there in sandy dis- 

 tricts on waste ground, such as kitchen 

 middens; and Hound's Tongue, Mul- 

 lein, Viper's Bugloss, Borage, Bitter- 

 sweet, Deadly Nightshade are all of 

 the same status. 



This fetid weed, so well distinguished 

 by its mousy smell and the netted petals 

 of the corolla, has an erect stem, slightly 

 branched with radical leaves, wavy, 

 divided nearly to the base, clammy, 

 sticky, and hairy, light green or yellow. 

 The upper leaves are clasping, stalkless, and the lower ones stalked. 



The flowers are yellow, with a net of purple veins, drooping, large, 

 broadly funnel-shaped, and arranged in one or two rows on the side 

 of the flower-stalk, nearly stalkless and axillary. The fruit is erect, 

 enclosed in the calyx, which does not fall, 2-celled, membranous, many- 

 seeded, constricted in the middle, with the lid near the top. The 

 seeds are pitted, flattened at the side, brown, with ridges, enclosing 

 oblong or round areas. 



The Henbane is about i ft. to 15 in. in height. It flowers in June 

 and July. It is triennial, and propagated by seeds. Like Deadly 

 Nightshade, it is interesting enough to grow in the garden. 



HENBANE (Hyoscyamus niger, L.) 

 IN FLOWER 



