THE HERB ROBERT AND THE HENBANE 439 



suggested that it is derived from a St. Robert 

 whose festival is commemorated about the time 

 when this plant first flowers, viz., at the end of 

 April or the beginning of May. The festival of this 

 St. Robert, who was a Benedictine abbot, occurs 

 on April 29, and so it has come to pass that the 

 supposition has arisen. This plant, as also the 

 crane's-bill, stork's-bill, and others, is one of the 

 geraniums, so called from the shape of their 

 seed-vessels, which resemble the bill of a crane, 

 the Greek word yepavo^ signifying a crane. 



The herb- Robert is also called the stinking 

 crane's-bill, by reason of its rank and unpleasant 

 smell ; and it is also known as the wild-geranium. 

 But both flower and leaves are not without their 

 beauty, more especially when in the later months 

 of summer and early autumn the latter turn to a 

 crimson hue. Nor was this plant formerly without 

 its supposed medicinal virtues, possessing certain 

 astringent qualities ; the leaves were also used 

 to repel insects. 



The henbane, from which the well-known drug 

 hyoscyamus is procured, is chiefly interesting by 

 reason of the deadly poison extracted from its 

 leaves, and which has rendered it so famous an 

 ingredient of the ' hell-broth ' supposed to have 

 been brewed by witches. It, however, possesses 

 the merit of being a useful plant to the chemist, 

 furnishing a valuable narcotic medicine. Its 

 purple-yellow flowdrs make their appearance in 

 June, and continue more or less throughout the 



