HENBANE. 13! 



itself or combined with other herbs. The infusion of 

 i ounce to a pint of water is taken in wineglassful 

 doses four or five times a day. 



Preparation Fluid extract : Dose, J-i drachm. 



Distinctive character Stem angular, striated, 

 rough. Leaves opposite, downy, three to five-lobed, the 

 segments elongate-lanceolate, irregularly serrate, the 

 central one longest. Flower-heads slender, five to six- 

 flowered, florets all tubular, pinkish. Receptacle not 

 hairy, pappus pilose. Taste, sweetish then bitter. 

 Odour, faintly aromatic. 



HENBANE. Hyoscyamus niger, Linn. 



N.O. Solanacece. 

 Syn. Hogbean. 



Part used Leaves. 



Action Anodyne, narcotic, mydriatic. Principally 

 employed in irritable conditions and nervous affections. 

 Also used in asthma, whooping cough, &c., as a sedative 

 and as a substitute for Opium, where this is inadmissible, 

 as in children's complaints. 



Preparations Powdered leaves: Dose, 2-10 grains. 

 Fluid extract : Dose, 2-10 drops. Tincture B.P. and 

 U.S. P. : Dose, ^-i drachm. Solid extract : Dose, 2-8 

 grains. Juice B.P. : Dose, -1 drachm. Hyoscyamin : 

 Dose, -1 grain. 



Distinctive character Stem, stout and as well as 

 the leaves covered with long, soft, viscid hairs. Stem 

 leaves oblong-ovate, sessile, clasping at the base, sinuate 

 or almost pinnatifid. The raphides in the leaves are 

 minute single rhombic crystals of calcium oxalate. 

 The flowers when present are cup-shaped, yellowish 

 with purple veins, on a one-sided spike with leafy bracts. 

 The capsular fruit opens transversely. Taste, slightly 

 acrid. Odour, unpleasant, characteristic. 



