Henbane

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Henbane

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), also known as stinking nightshade, is a plant of the family Solanaceae

Solanaceae

The Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants, that contains a number of important agricultural plants as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear....
that originated in Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
, though it is now globally distributed.

as historically used in combination with other plants, such as mandrake

Mandrake (plant)

Mandrake is the common name for members of the plant genus Mandragora belonging to the nightshades family . Because mandrake contains deliriant hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids such as hyoscyamine and the roots sometimes contain bifurcations causing them to resemble human figures, their roots have long been used in magic rituals, t...
, deadly nightshade

Deadly nightshade

Atropa belladonna or Atropa bella-donna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a perennial plant herbaceous plant in the family Solanaceae, native to Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia....
, and datura

Datura

Datura is a genus of nine species of Vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae. Their exact natural distribution is uncertain, due to extensive cultivation and naturalisation throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe, but is most likely restricted to the Americas, from the United States south throug...
as an anaesthetic potion, as well as for its psychoactive properties in "magic brews." These psychoactive properties include visual hallucinations and a sensation of flight.

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Encyclopedia

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), also known as stinking nightshade, is a plant of the family Solanaceae

Solanaceae

Eurasia

Toxicity and historical usage

It was historically used in combination with other plants, such as mandrake

Mandrake (plant)

Deadly nightshade

Datura

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
. The use of Henbane by the ancient Greeks

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
was documented by Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Natural History ....
. The plant, recorded as Herba Apollinaris, was used to yield oracle

Oracle

An oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophecy opinion; an infallible authority, usually Spirituality in nature....
s by the priestesses of Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
.

Henbane can be toxic, even fatal, to animals in low doses. Its name dates at least to 1265. The origins of the word are unclear but "hen" probably originally meant death rather than referring to chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a Domestication fowl. Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken was under way in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago....
s.. Hyoscyamine

Hyoscyamine

Hyoscyamine, pronounced hi-oh-SYE-uh-meen, is a chemical compound, a tropane alkaloid. It is the levorotary isomer to atropine. It is a secondary metabolite found in certain plants of the Solanaceae family, including henbane, mandrake , jimsonweed , and deadly nightshade ....
, scopolamine

Scopolamine

Scopolamine, known by the names levo-duboisine and hyoscine, is a tropane alkaloid Medication with muscarinic antagonist effects. It is obtained from plants of the family Solanaceae , such as henbane, jimson weed and Angel's Trumpets , and corkwood ....
, and other tropane alkaloids have been found in the foliage and seeds of the plant. Common effects of henbane ingestion in humans include hallucinations, dilated pupils, restlessness, and flushed skin. Less common symptoms such as tachycardia

Tachycardia

The word tachycardia comes from the Greek words tachys and kardia .Tachycardia typically refers to a heartrate that exceeds the range of the normal resting heartrate, based upon age:...
, convulsions, vomiting, hypertension

Hypertension

Hypertension, also referred to as high blood pressure, HTN or HPN, is a medical condition in which the blood pressure is chronically elevated....
, hyperpyrexia

Hyperpyrexia

In medicine, hyperpyrexia is an excessive and unusual elevation of set body temperature greater than or equal to 41.1 ?C , or extremely high fever....
and ataxia

Ataxia

Ataxia is a neurology sign and symptom consisting of gross lack of coordination of muscle movements. Ataxia is a non-specific clinical manifestation implying dysfunction of parts of the nervous system that coordinate movement, such as the cerebellum....
have all been noted.

Not all animals are susceptible; the larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
species including Cabbage Moth

Cabbage Moth

Note: the Small White species of butterfly is commonly called a "cabbage moth" in North America.The Cabbage Moth is a common European moth of the family Noctuidae....
eat henbane.

It was sometimes one of the ingredients in grut

Gruit

Gruit is an old-fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer, popular before the extensive use of hop . Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit....
, traditionally used in beers

Beers

Beers can refer to either:* plural of Beer - an alcoholic beverage.* Beers - a town in the Netherlands part of Cuijk mun.* Beers - another town in the Netherlands...
as a flavouring, until replaced by hops in the 11th to 16th centuries (for example, the Bavarian Purity Law

Reinheitsgebot

The , sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" or the "Bavarian Purity Law" in English, is a regulation concerning the production of beer in Germany....
of 1516 outlawed ingredients other than barley, hops, and water).

In 1910, an American homeopathic doctor living in London, Hawley Harvey Crippen

Hawley Harvey Crippen

Hawley Harvey Crippen , usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an United States physician hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, England, on 23 November 1910, for the murder of his wife....
, used scopolamine

Scopolamine

Alkaloid

Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing base nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base....
extracted from henbane, to poison his wife.

Henbane is thought to have been the "hebenon

Hebenon

Hebenon is a botanical substance described in William Shakespeare's tragedy Play Hamlet as being the agent of death in Hamlet's father's murder that set in motion the events of the play:::Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,::With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,::''And in the porches of my ears did pour...
" poured into the ear of Hamlet
Hamlet

Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle King Claudius, who has murdered King Hamlet, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude ....
's father (although other candidates for hebenon exist).

However this plant extract is applied in Homeopathy (in homeopatchic doses i.e infinitesimally low doses )and is found to be very effective in treating convlusions and spasticity.

Misidentification

In 2008 celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson
Antony Worrall Thompson

Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson is an England celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster....
recommended Henbane as a "tasty addition to salads" in the August 2008 issue of Healthy and Organic Living magazine. He subsequently said that he had made an error, confusing the herb with Fat Hen
Chenopodium album

Chenopodium album is a fast-growing weedy annual plant in the genus Chenopodium. The standard British name is Fat-hen;, though this is used for other plants also; the unambiguous name is White Goosefoot, and it is also known as lamb's quarters, nickel greens, pigweed or dungweed, or more ambiguously as just goosefoot....
, a member of the spinach family. He apologised, and the magazine sent subscribers an urgent message stating that Henbane "is a very toxic plant and should never be eaten."

See also

Nabidh
Nabidh

Nabidh is a drink traditionally made from fruits such as raisins/grapes or dates. Nabidh may be non intoxicating, mildy intoxicating, or possibly heavily intoxicating depending on the level of fermentation....

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