HENBANE 



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The flower contains honey. The stigma and anthers ripen at the 

 same time. The corolla is bell-shaped, plaited in hud. The hairv 

 stamens are declinate, attached to the corolla base, with purple anthers 

 and provided with slits. The style is simple, the stigma pin- headed 

 and prominent, ensuring cross -pollination. At first the sti<r ma is 

 longer than the stamens, but the tube grows, and the anthers are 

 then on a level with the stigma, so that self-pollination is possible 



Humble bees visit it, and 

 Halictzis cylindricus collects 

 pollen. The terminal flowers 

 are said to be sometimes 

 cleistogamic. 



The fruit, a capsule en- 

 closed by the calyx, opens 

 by a lid above, and the seeds 

 are thus dispersed imme- 

 diately around the parent 

 plant. Henbane usually 

 grows in small clumps, as 



would result from the seeds 

 being jerked (when the stems 



are dry and hard) to some 



distance also by the wind or 



upset by passing herds. 



It is a sand plant, and 



grows mainly on sand soil. 

 The leaves are attacked 



by a fungus, Peronospora 



hyoscyami. A beetle, Psyl- 



liodes hyoscyami, 3 moths, 



Tiger Moth (Arctia caja\ Sand Dart (Agrotis rip<c}< Bordered Straw 



(Heliothis peltiger}, feed on it. 



Hyoscyamus, Dioscorides, is from the Greek /ins, fiyos. pig. Avtwnis, 



bean. The second Latin name refers to the black fruit. It is called 



Belene, Brosewort, Chenile, Henbane, Hen-bell, Henkam, Loaves-of- 



bread, Stinking Roger. People call it Devil's Eye in Ciermany, as 



being associated with the evil one. 



Ellis says as to the name Henbane: "Destroy Henbane if any 



grows near your house, for this will poison, and kill both these and 



the other fowls". The name Belene is derived from its bell-shaped 



capsules, belle a bell, fellen, furnished with bells. 



Photo. II IMnlcy 



HENBANE (Hyoscyamus niger, L.) IN FRUT 



