Hyoscyamus
Encyclopedia
Hyoscyamus is a small genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the nightshade
Solanum
Solanum, the nightshades, horsenettles and relatives, is a large and diverse genus of annual and perennial plants. They grow as forbs, vines, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees, and often have attractive fruit and flowers. Many formerly independent genera like Lycopersicon or Cyphomandra are...

 family, Solanaceae
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops 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...

. The eleven species it contains are known generally as the henbanes. All of them are toxic.

Selected species

  • Hyoscyamus albus L. – White Henbane
  • Hyoscyamus aureus L. – Golden Henbane
  • Hyoscyamus muticus L. – Egyptian Henbane
  • Hyoscyamus niger L. – Black Henbane
  • Hyoscyamus pusillus L.
  • Hyoscyamus reticulatus L.


A poisonous Eurasian plant (Hyoscyamus niger) having an unpleasant odor, sticky leaves, and funnel-shaped greenish-yellow flowers. It is a source of the drug hyoscyamine.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/henbane#ixzz1D6S86ArJ

External links

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