DATURA 49 



Solanum nigrum, Linne ; hairs resemble stramonium ; contains no 

 cluster-crystals. 



Uses. Stramonium leaves resemble belladonna in their action ; 

 they are, however, almost exclusively used in the treatment of spas- 

 modic affections of the respiratory organs. 



DATURA LEAVES 

 (Folia Daturae) 



Source, &C. The official Datura leaves are the dried leaves of D. 

 fastuosa, Linne, var. alba, Nees, and also of D. Metel, Linne, annual 

 plants indigenous to India where the leaves are used as an equivalent 

 of belladonna and thornapple. They are brownish or yellowish 

 green, ovate, acuminate, sinuate-dentate, often unequal at the base, 

 up to 20 cm. long and 12*5 wide, with long petioles. The odour is 

 characteristic and unpleasant ; taste bitter. The epidermis bears 

 scattered simple hairs and stalked glandular hairs. 



They contain about 0'5 per cent, of alkaloid, chiefly scopolamine 

 (hyoscine) with traces of hyoscyamine and atropine. They serve as 

 a commercial source of scopolamine. 



Note. Datura Tatula, Linn6, is a variety of D. Stramonium with a violet 

 corolla and purplish veins ; the leaves are used together with stramonium leaves 

 for making asthma cigarettes. 



HENBANE LEAVES 

 (Folia Hyoscyami) 



Source, &C. The common henbane, Hyoscyamus niger, Linne 

 (N.O. Solanacece), is an erect herb attaining a height of about 1 metre, 

 distributed over the whole of Europe and extending to Persia and 

 India. In England it is found chiefly on waste places near buildings ; 

 it is cultivated in this country for medicinal use, but much is imported 

 from Germany and Russia. The medicinal use of the plant dates 

 from very remote ages. It was well known to the Anglo-Saxons in 

 the tenth and eleventh centuries, but subsequently fell intp disuse. 

 It was omitted from the London Pharmacopoeia in 1746, but restored 

 in 1809 chiefly by the influence of Storck, who also introduced 

 stramonium. 



Two varieties of the plant are known, an annual and a binneial, 

 the distinction between them being by no means well marked. 



Biennial henbane produces in the first year of its growth simply 

 a rosette of large stalked leaves attaining 30 cm. in length, some of 

 which are frequently collected and form the drug known commercially 

 a.s c first biennial henbane.' In the second year the plant sends up 



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