H Y O S C 
quantity of two grains, mixed with mercurius dulcis. 
The leaves bruifed and. fried have been applied with ef¬ 
fect to the piles, and in mufcular fpafms. Like other 
narcotics, they aflift in foftening indurations of the glands. 
An oil exprefled from the feeds is ufed outwardly as an 
anodyne; and the common people fometimes fmoke them 
for the tooth-ach; or put a piece of the root boiled in 
milk at the root of the tooth. The roots alfo cut in 
pieces, and ftrung like beads, are ufed for anodyne neck¬ 
laces to hang about children’s necks to prevent fits, and 
caufe the teeth to breed eafily. Some give a decoftion of 
henbane in clufters to affuage the pains of the inteftines; 
but this is dangerous. In general it is a medicine not to 
be trifled with, or taken without good advice. 
Henbane is a native of moft parts of Europe, in wafte 
places, particularly near towns and villages ; whence Lin- 
nceus remarks, that it aflociates with mankind,like the mag¬ 
pie, and fome other birds. It is generally known by its pe¬ 
culiar fetid odour. The Englilli name henbane is probably 
derived from a notion of its being noxious to poultry; 
but whether this notion be well founded or not, W'e have 
not had any opportunity of knowing. In German it is 
bilfenkraut ; in Dutch, bi/fcnkritid ; in Danilh, bulme, honfe- 
bane. See. in Swedifh, bolmort, honfabale ; in French, juf- 
quiame ; in Italian, giufquiamo, fava porcina ; in Spanifh, 
beleno, veleno ; in Portuguefe, miemendro, velenho, yofeiamo ; 
in Ruffian, belena. 
A variety of this was found by profeffor John Martyn, 
near the Caltle at Cambridge, about the year 1729, with 
the corolla and anthers of a pure brimftone colour, with¬ 
out the leaft tinge of purple. The feeds, being fown in 
the botanic garden at Chelfea, produced the very fame va¬ 
riety. Henbane is a biennial plant, forming the root and 
lower leaves the firft feafon, and the Item with the fructi¬ 
fication thefecond. It flowers in June. 
2. Hyofcyamus reticulatUs, or Egyptian henbane: ftem- 
leaves petioled, cordate, finuate, acute; floral leaves quite 
entire ; corollas ventricofe. This rifes w'ith a branching 
ftalk two feet high. The lower leaves are regularly cut 
on both fides into acute fegments, which are oppofite, but 
the upper leaves are entire. The flowers grow at the end 
of the ftalk in bunches; they are of a worn-out red co¬ 
lour, and fliaped like thofe of the common fort, but their 
tubes are fwollen. The wdicle plant is .fmooth. It re- 
fembles common henbane, but the Item-leaves are ovate, 
xepand, more fmooth above i. the floral leaves ovate, fef- 
file, entire. Flowers on a very fliort peduncle ; corolla 
bell-fhaped, red, beautifully netted with dark veins. Na¬ 
tive of Egypt; of Syria near Aleppo, according to Rau- 
wolff ; and of the ifland of Crete or Candia, according to 
Clufius. It is an annual plant, flowering in July, and 
was cultivated by Mr. Miller in 1731. This fpecies was 
left out in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, editions 
of Syftema Vegetabilium : but is reltored by Reichard, Ret- 
zius, and others. 
3. Hyofcyamus albus, or white henbane : leaves peti¬ 
oled, finuate, obtufe; flowers fefiile. White henbane re- 
fembles the black in moft circumftances, but the leaves 
are more rounded or obtufe, petioled, finuate, very foft, 
bearded with white hairs, as is alfo the item. Flow'ers 
fewer, the lower ones on longer peduncles, but the upper 
flowers, have very fhort ones ; calyx green, five-toothed, 
hairy. Seeds very numerous, fmall, compreffed a little, 
incurved or kidney-form, 'clofely fcrobiculate, whitifh afh- 
coloured. Native of the fouth of Europe. Annual. 
Flowering in Auguft. Cultivated herein 1570. 
The corolla varies with the bafe dark purple, or green. 
Hence Miller has made two fpecies, major and albus ; the 
firft having the flowers on fliort peduncles, of a pale yel¬ 
low colour, with very dark purple bottoms, and growing 
naturally in the iflands of the Archipelago ; this is H. 
major, albo fimilis, um’oilico floris atro-purpureo, Tournef. 
cor. The fecond has the flower in larger bunches, fitting 
very clofe on the ends of the branches, of a greenifh yel¬ 
low colour, with green bottoms. This is the white hen- 
Y A M U S. 639 
bane of the fouth of Europe. H. major, albo fimilis* 
umbilico floris virenti, JuJfieu. 
4. Hyofcyamus aureus, or golden-flowered or fhrubby 
henbane: leaves petioled, toothed, acute; flowers pe- 
duncled, fruits pendulous. This is a plant with weak 
Italics, which require a fupport. The flowers come out 
at each joint of the ftalk; they are large, and of a bright 
yellow, with a dark purple bottom. The Item is hairy, 
and about a foot high. Native of Candia, and other parts 
of the Levant. It flowers moft part of the fummer, and 
fometimes ripens feeds in the autumn. Cultivated in 
1640, by Parkinfon. Profper Alpinus and others make 
two varieties of this, differing only in lize and the fhade 
of colour in the corolla. 
5. Hyofcyamus muticus, or awnlefs henbane : leaves 
petioled, ovate, acutangular; calyxes awnlefs, bractes 
undivided. Stem a foot high, the thicknefs of a finger* 
ereft, roundifh. Native of Egypt and Arabia. Biennial. 
Miller deferibes his minor as having a fmaller ftalk than 
the preceding, with joints farther diftant; the leaves- 
roundiflr, and deeply indented iia obtufe fegments, Hand¬ 
ing upon pretty long foot-ftalks ; the flowers coming out 
fingly from the fide of the ftalks, at a good diftance from 
each other ; of a yellow colour, with dark bottoms. It 
was brought, from the Levant by Tournefort. 
6. Hyofcyamus pufillus, or dwarf henbane: leaves 
lanceolate, toothed; lower floral leaves in. pairs; ca¬ 
lyxes fpiny. This is an annual plant, a hand in height. 
Gouan fays, that the root-leaves in the wild plants are 
always bipinnatifid, with the fegments fharply toothed ; 
but that it occurs alfo with lanceolate leaves, if the feeds 
be fown very late, or be cultivated in a poor lean foil.. 
Native of Perfia. Cultivated in 1691 by Compton, bi- 
fhop of London, at Fulham. It flowers in July. 
7. Hyofcyamus pliyfaloides, or purple-flowered hen¬ 
bane : leaves ovate, quite entire ; calyxes inflated, fub- 
globular. Root perennial. Stems a foot high, Ample, 
erect, round, rough-haired. Native of Siberia: introduced 
here in 1777, by Meflrs Gordon and Grsffer. The de- 
feription is repeated in the Appendix to Linnaeus’s Spe¬ 
cies Plantarum, p. 1668, under PuLmonaria hirta. 
8 . Hyofcyamus Scopolia, or nightlhade-leaved henbane ; 
leaves ovate, entire; calyxes inflated bell-fhaped even. 
Root perennial, tranfverfe, knobbed, thick, irregular, 
branched, flexuofe, the thicknefs of the human thumb. 
Stem herbaceous, annual, upright, round, fmooth, fcarcely 
more than a foot high, according to Linnaeus and Jac¬ 
quin.; but even three feet in height, according to Sco- 
poli; the thicknefs of the human finger, trifid and bifid, 
with dichotomous branches. Branches only two, accord¬ 
ing to Linnaeus, fpreading, and entirely Ample ; or, as 
Jacquin fays, fubtrichotomous, with a groove running 
down from the leaves. Leaves ovate and oblong, the 
length of the human finger ; the lower quite entire ; the 
upper frequently moderately finuate or repand ; but, ac¬ 
cording to Linnaeus, petioled, naked, fomewhat wrinkled, 
fpreading; on the ftem alternate, folitary; under the fork¬ 
ings in threes, two of which approximate; on.the branches 
alternate, but two together on the fame tooth or bafe, 
one of which is a little lefs than the other : according to 
Jacquin, they are fubovate or lanceolate, entire except 
the lower ones, which in gardens at leaft are finuate- 
tpothed in front, veined, w'rinkled, decurrent; the lower 
ones oppofite, the reft fcattered. Seeds in each cell t m. 
twenty to twenty-four, fixed to an orbiculate receptacle ; 
kidney-form, rather large, elegantly dotted very clofely 
in rows, with little holes, and of a very pale yellow co¬ 
lour. It differs from Atropa, which it very much refem- 
bles in habit, in the calyx, ftigma, and neftareous teeth 
of the receptacle, but principally in its capfular fruit. 
Frequent in the woods about Idria in Friuli, flowering 
about the middle of April. It flowers with us in May 1 ; 
and was introduced in 1780, by Mr. Daniel Grimwood. 
Jacquin, thinking that this plant is genetically diftinft 
from Solanum, with which the old authors had placed it; 
from.- 
