Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  j 
February,  1919-  -* 
Hyoscyamus  Niger. 
69 
"  With  very  few  exceptions,  recent  attempts  to  cultivate  henbane  as 
a  drug  crop  in  his  country  have  resulted  in  failure."  With  the 
above  thoughts  in  mind  the  author  has  made  rather  detailed  study 
covering  most  of  the  phases  of  growing  and  developing  hyoscyamus, 
belladonna  and  digitalis.  The  results  considered  in  this  paper  refer 
only  to  the  work  with  hyoscyamus.  The  results  of  the  investigation 
with  belladonna  and  digitalis  will  be  presented  in  another  series  of 
papers  (5,  6). 
Germination  of  Seeds  of  Hyoscyamus  niger. 
The  variability  of  seeds  is  always  a  very  important  factor.  The 
only  satisfactory  method  of  determining  viability  is  by  germination 
tests.  How  long  a  time  does  it  require  for  the  seeds  of  Hyoscyamus 
niger  to  germinate?  Newcomb  (7)  states  that  the  seeds  of  the 
biennial  variety  of  Hyoscyamus  niger  germinate  in  about  four  to 
six  weeks,  while  the  seeds  of  the  annual  variety  germinate  in  from 
eight  to  ten  days. 
To  secure  more  information  on  the  germination  of  the  seeds  of 
Hyoscyamus  niger,  two  samples  of  seed  of  the  annual  variety  were 
tested.  The  blotter  method,  which  is  usually  employed  for  testing 
seeds,  was  used.  Two  one  hundred  seed  lots  of  each  sample  were 
counted  out  and  the  extent  of  germination  noted.  The  results  as 
tabulated  below  are  the  average  of  two  determinations. 
TABLE  I. 
Showing  Percentage  of  Germination  of  Seeds  of  Hyoscyamus  niger  on 
Various  Days. 
Number  of  Days  After  Seeds  were  Planted 
bample  No- 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
11 
12 
18 
21 
23 
9 
6 
II 
27 
48 
66 

71 
71 
73 
73 
n 
73 
73 
10 
22 
24 
40 
77 
93 
93 
94 
95 
95 
95 
95 
95 
Upon  observing  the  results  as  presented  in  the  above  table,  it 
will  be  seen  that  most  of  the  viable  seeds  will  have  germinated  in 
from  nine  to  eleven  days. 
Determining  the  viability  of  Hyoscyamus  niger  seeds  between 
blotters  or  filter  paper  is  very  satisfactory  but  is  limited,  and  the 
practice  of  germinating  seed  in  the  soil  in  conjunction  with  the 
blotter  method,  seemed  quite  advisable. 
