Hyoscyamus niger

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger, also black henbane and stinking nightshade) is a poisonous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae.^[1][2] Henbane is native to temperate Europe and Siberia, and naturalised in Great Britain and Ireland.^[3]

Hyoscyamus niger
Hyoscyamus niger in Köhler's Medicinal Plants, 1887
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Solanales
Family:	Solanaceae
Genus:	Hyoscyamus
Species:	H. niger
Binomial name
Hyoscyamus niger L.

Historical use

The name henbane dates from AD 1265; "bane" meant death.^[4] Other etymologies of henbane derive from the Indo-European stem bhelena meaning "crazy plant"^[5] and with the Proto-Germanic element bil meaning "vision", "hallucination", "magical power", and "miraculous ability".^[6]

Historically, henbane was used in combination with other plants, such as the mandrake, the deadly nightshade, and the datura, as an anaesthetic potion, and for its psychoactive properties in "magic brews".^{[1][2][7][8][9]} These psychoactive properties include visual hallucinations and a sensation of flight.^[10] It was originally used in continental Europe, Asia, and the Arab world,^[11] though it did spread to England in the Middle Ages. The use of henbane by the ancient Romans was documented by Pliny, who said it was "of the nature of wine and therefore offensive to the understanding", and by Dioscorides, who recommended it as a sedative and analgesic.^[12]

The plant, recorded as Herba Apollinaris, was used to yield oracles by the priestesses of Apollo.^[2] Recently evidence for its use in the earlier British Neolithic has been debated.^[13] John Gerard's Herball states: "The leaves, the seeds and the juice, when taken internally cause an unquiet sleep, like unto the sleep of drunkenness, which continueth long and is deadly to the patient. To wash the feet in a decoction of Henbane, as also the often smelling of the flowers causeth sleep."^[12]

The plant was also purportedly used as a fumigant for magical purposes.^[9] Albertus Magnus, in his work De Vegetalibus (1250), reported that necromancers used henbane to invoke the souls of the dead as well as demons.^[14] Henbane was already being demonized as early as the Late Middle Ages when it became inseparably associated with witchcraft and malefic practices. “The witches drank the decoction of henbane and had those dreams for which they were tortured and executed. It was also used for witches’ ointments and was used for making weather and conjuring spirits. If there were a great drought then a stalk of henbane would be dipped into a spring, then the sun-baked sand would be sprinkled with this” (Perger 1864, 181).^[14]

Henbane was discovered among an assortment of imported spices during the underwater archaeological excavation of the royal Danish-Norwegian flagship, Gribshunden, which sank in 1495 near Ronneby, Sweden. The purpose of this henbane is not known: but could have been medicinal for soothing toothache, or as an anti-emetic and to prevent motion sickness.^[15]

During a Pomeranian witchcraft trial in 1538, a suspected witch "confessed" that she had given a man henbane seeds so that he would run around "crazy" (sexually aroused). In a file from an Inquisition trial, it was noted that "a witch admits" having once strewn henbane seeds between two lovers and uttering the following formula: "Here I sow wild seed, and the devil advised that they would hate and avoid each other until these seeds had been separated" (Marzell 1922, 169).^[14]

Henbane was one of the ingredients in gruit, traditionally used in beers as a flavouring. Several cities, most notably Pilsen, were named after its German name "Bilsenkraut" in the context of its production for beer flavouring.^[16] The recipe for henbane beer includes 40 g dried chopped henbane herbage, 5 g bayberry, 23 L water, 1 L brewing malt, 900 g honey, 5 g dried yeast, and brown sugar.^[14] Henbane fell out of usage for beer when it was replaced by hops in the 11th to 16th centuries, as the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516 outlawed ingredients other than barley, hops, yeast, and water.^[17]

Henbane is sometimes identified with the "hebenon" poured into the ear of Hamlet's father,^[7][18] although other candidates for hebenon exist.^[19]

Theories

Henbane seeds have been found in a Viking grave near Fyrkat, Denmark, that was first described in 1977.^[20][21] This and other archaeological finds show that H. niger was known to the Vikings. Analysis of the symptoms caused by intoxication of this plant suggest that it may have been used by berserkers to induce the rage state that they used in war.^[22]

Cultivation and use

 

Henbane cultivation, Lilly Experimental Farm, 1919

Henbane originated in Eurasia, and is now globally distributed^[2] as a plant grown mainly for pharmaceutical purposes. Henbane is rare in northern Europe; its cultivation for medicinal use is spread and legal in central and eastern Europe and in India.^[14]

Henbane is used in traditional herbal medicine for ailments of the bones, rheumatism, toothache, asthma, cough, nervous diseases, and stomach pain. It might also be used as analgesic, sedative, and narcotic in some cultures.^[23] Adhesive bandages with henbane extract behind the ear are reported to prevent discomfort in travel-sick people.^{[medical citation needed]} Henbane oil is used for medicinal massage.^[24]

Henbane material in most Western countries can be bought in pharmacies with a prescription only. Sales of henbane oil are not legally regulated and are allowed in shops other than pharmacies in the US.^[14]

Henbane has travelled through the company of Romani people.^[25]

Preparation, dosage, toxicity

Henbane leaves and herbage without roots are chopped and dried and are then used for medicinal purposes or in incense and smoking blends, in making beer and tea, and in seasoning wine. Henbane leaves are boiled in oil to derive henbane oil. Henbane seeds are an ingredient in incense blends.^[14] In all preparations, the dosage has to be carefully estimated due to the high toxicity of henbane. For some therapeutic applications, dosages like 0.5 g and 1.5– 3 g were used. The lethal dosage is not known.^[24]

Henbane is toxic to cattle, wild animals, fish, and birds.^[14] Not all animals are susceptible; for example, the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including cabbage moths, eat henbane. Pigs are immune to henbane toxicity and are reported to enjoy the effects of the plant.^[14]

Psychoactive material

Hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and other tropane alkaloids have been found in the foliage and seeds of the plant.^[2] The standard alkaloid content has been reported to be 0.03% to 0.28%.^[14]

Its psychoactive and pharmacological effects are a result of these alkaloids exerting an anticholinergic mechanism of action which blocks the function of acetylcholine in the brain and antagonizes the muscarinic receptors.^[1][26] This results in an altered state of consciousness, hallucinogenic experiences, and typically, delirium.^[27][28] This mechanism of action is not only linked to dangerous effects and accidents, but dementia as well.^[29][30][26] Since toxicity/lethality is such a major concern with plants like henbane; many traditional preparations of henbane or other similar scopolamine-containing plants were designed to be applied transdermally, often in “magical ointments” by herbalists, witches and cunning folk.^[31][32][9] The purpose of this was to absorb the primary and transdermally-active alkaloid scopolamine through the skin, thus eliminating the risk of the additional toxicity from atropine and hyoscyamine that is inevitably present with oral ingestion of the plant but not when used topically.^[33][32]

Effects

Henbane ingestion by humans is followed simultaneously by peripheral inhibition and central stimulation.^[14] Common effects of henbane ingestion include hallucinations,^[2] dilated pupils, narcosis, restlessness, and flushed skin. Less common effects are tachycardia, convulsions, vomiting, hypertension, hyperpyrexia, and ataxia.^[2] Initial effects typically last for three to four hours, while aftereffects may last up to three days. The side effects of henbane ingestion are dryness in the mouth, confusion, visual illusions, bizarre thoughts, locomotor and memory disturbances, and farsightedness, similar in style to those of other tropane-based deliriants such as plants of the New World genus datura. As a result of this distinct chemical and pharmacological profile, overdoses can result not only in delirium, but also severe anticholinergic syndrome, coma, respiratory paralysis, and death. Low and average dosages have inebriating and aphrodisiac effects.^[14][24]

In his book How Do Witches Fly?, Alexander Kuklin refers to an experience of black henbane had by German scientist Michael Schenck.^[28] Schenck recollected his experience:

The henbane's first effect was purely physical discomfort. My limbs lost certainty, pains hammered in my head, and I began to feel extremely giddy....I went to the mirror and was able to distinguish my face, but more dimly than normal. It looked flushed and must have been so. I had the feeling that my head had increased in size: it seemed to have grown broader, more solid, heavier, and I imagined that it was enveloped in firmer, thicker skin. The mirror itself seemed to be swaying, and I found it difficult to keep my face within its frame. The black discs of my pupils were immensely enlarged, as though the whole iris, which was normally blue, had become black. Despite of' the dilation of my pupils I could see no better than usual; quite the contrary, the outlines of objects were hazy, the window and the window frame were obscured by a thin mist.

Schenck's pulse became rapid and he experienced a further increase in the hallucinogenic effects of the plant:

There were animals which looked at me keenly with contorted grimaces and staring, terrified eyes; there were terrifying stones and clouds of mist, all sweeping along in the same direction. They carried me irresistibly with them. Their coloring must be described - but it was not a pure hue. They enveloped in a vague gray light, which emitted a dull glow and rolled onward and upward into a black and smoky sky. I was flung into a flaring drunkenness, a witches' cauldron of madness. Above my head water was flowing, dark and blood-red. The sky was filled with herds of animals. Fluid, formless creatures emerged from the darkness. I heard words, but they were all wrong and nonsensical, and yet they possessed for me some hidden meaning.^[28]

Misidentification

 

Apothecary vessels for Hyoscyamus preparations, Germany, 19th century

Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson accidentally recommended henbane as a "tasty addition to salads" in the August 2008 issue of Healthy and Organic Living magazine. The publication promptly warned subscribers against consuming the "very toxic" plant upon discovery of the error, and Thompson admitted to confusing it with fat hen, a member of the spinach family.^[34]

Gallery

•  
  Large flowering henbane
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  Henbane in flower
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  Close-up of flower
•  
  Henbane fruits
•  
  Henbane seeds

References

1. Kennedy, David O. (2014). "The Deliriants - The Nightshade (Solanaceae) Family". Plants and the Human Brain. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 131–137. ISBN 9780199914012. LCCN 2013031617.
2. Roberts & Wink 1998, p. 31
3. . Archived from the original on 2021-02-03. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
4. Anatoly Liberman, J. Lawrence Mitchell (2008). An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction. U of Minnesota Press. pp. 108–110. ISBN 978-0-8166-5272-3.
5. Hoops, J. (1973). Bilsenkraut. Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. pp. 1:284.
6. de Vries, H. (1993). Heilige bäume, bilsenkraut und bildzeitung. In Naturverehrung und Heilkunst, ed. C. Raetsch: Suedergellersen, Germany: Verlag Bruno Martin. pp. 65–83.
7. Anthony John Carter MB FFARCS (March 2003). "Myths and mandrakes" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 96 (3): 144–147. doi:10.1177/014107680309600312. PMC 539425. PMID 12612119.
8. A. J. Carter (1996-12-21). "Narcosis and nightshade". British Medical Journal. 313 (7072): 1630–1632. doi:10.1136/bmj.313.7072.1630. PMC 2359130. PMID 8991015.
9. Fatur, Karsten (June 2020). ""Hexing Herbs" in Ethnobotanical Perspective: A Historical Review of the Uses of Anticholinergic Solanaceae Plants in Europe". Economic Botany. 74 (2): 140–158. doi:10.1007/s12231-020-09498-w. ISSN 0013-0001. S2CID 220844064.
10. Schultes & Smith 1976, p. 22
11. Joseph Perez, Janet Lloyd, The Spanish Inquisition, Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-300-11982-8, ISBN 978-0-300-11982-4, p229 footnote 10]
12. Grieve, Maud (1971). A Modern Herbal: The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs, & Trees with All Their Modern Scientific Uses, Volume 1.
13. Black Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger L.) in the Scottish Neolithic, Journal of Archaeological Science (1999) 26, 45–52
14. Raetsch, Ch. (2005). The encyclopedia of psychoactive plants: ethnopharmacology and its applications. US: Park Street Press. pp. 277–282.
15. Larsson, Mikael; Foley, Brendan (2023-01-26). "The king's spice cabinet–Plant remains from Gribshunden, a 15th century royal shipwreck in the Baltic Sea". PLOS ONE. 18 (1): e0281010. Bibcode:2023PLoSO..1881010L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0281010. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 9879437. PMID 36701280.
16. Christian Rätsch (2015-07-29). "Urbock oder echtes Bier" (in German). Retrieved 2015-08-26. Diese ehemaligen Anpflanzungen leben in verschiedenen Ortbezeichnungen bis heute fort, z.B. Bilsensee, Billendorf, Bilsengarten und vor allem im böhmischen Pilsen. So hat die Stadt, nach der unser modernes, stark gehopftes Bier »Pilsner« heißt, seinen Namen selbst vom Bilsenkraut, das dem echten »Pilsener Bier«, nämlich dem Bilsenkraut-Bier seinen Namen verlieh! In der Schweiz lebt der alte Name pilsener krut in der Bezeichnung Pilsenkraut bis heute fort.
17. Dan Rabin, Carl Forget (1998). The Dictionary of Beer and Brewing. Taylor & Francis. xii. ISBN 978-1-57958-078-0.
18. . Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828). Archived from the original on 2009-07-24.
19. Anatoly Liberman, J. Lawrence Mitchell (2008). An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction. U of Minnesota Press. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-0-8166-5272-3.
20. S., Price, Neil (2002). The Viking way : religion and war in late Iron Age Scandinavia. Uppsala University. Uppsala: Dept. of Archaeology and Ancient History. ISBN 978-9150616262. OCLC 52987118.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
21. Pentz, Peter; Baastrup Panum, Maria; Karg, Sabine; Mannering, Ulla (2009). "Kong Haralds vølve". Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark: 215–232 – via researchgate.net. Da graven og gravpladsen blev beskrevet første gang (1977)....
22. Fatur, Karsten (2019-11-15). "Sagas of the Solanaceae: Speculative ethnobotanical perspectives on the Norse berserkers". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 244: 112151. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2019.112151. ISSN 0378-8741. PMID 31404578. S2CID 199548329.
23. Alizadeh A, Moshiri M, Alizadeh J, Balali-Mood M. Black henbane and its toxicity - a descriptive review. Avicenna J Phytomed. 2014 Sep;4(5):297-311. PMID 25386392; PMCID: PMC4224707.
24. Lindequist, U. (1993). Hyoscyamus. In Haegers Handbuch der pharmazeutischen Praxis, 5th ed., 5.: Berlin: Springer. pp. 460–74.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
25. Kletter, Christa; Kriechbaum, Monika (2001). Tibetan Medicinal Plants. CRC Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-8493-0031-8.
26. Volgin, A. D.; Yakovlev, O. A.; Demin, K. A.; Alekseeva, P. A.; Kyzar, E. J.; Collins, C.; Nichols, D. E.; Kalueff, A. V. (16 October 2018). "Understanding Central Nervous System Effects of Deliriant Hallucinogenic Drugs through Experimental Animal Models". ACS Chemical Neuroscience. 10 (1): 143–154. doi:10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00433. PMID 30252437. S2CID 52824516. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
27. Duncan, D. F., and Gold, R. S. (1982). Drugs and the Whole Person. New York: John Wiley & Sons
28. Kuklin, Alexander (February 1999). How Do Witches Fly?. DNA Press. ISBN 0-9664027-0-7.
29. . Lycaeum.org. Archived from the original on 2010-10-03. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
30. "Study suggests link between long-term use of anticholinergics and dementia risk". Alzheimer's Society. 26 January 2015. from the original on 12 November 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
31. Rätsch, Christian, The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications pub. Park Street Press 2005
32. Hansen, Harold A. The Witch's Garden pub. Unity Press 1978 ISBN 978-0913300473
33. Sollmann, Torald (1957). A Manual of Pharmacology and Its Applications to Therapeutics and Toxicology (8th ed.). Philadelphia and London: W.B. Saunders.
34. Dawar, Anil (August 4, 2008). "TV chef Worrall Thompson recommends deadly weed as salad ingredient". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-08-04.

General

• Roberts, Margaret F.; Wink, Michael (1998). Alkaloids: biochemistry, ecology, and medicinal applications. Springer. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-0-306-45465-3. Retrieved 2006-12-27.
• . Clinicalmind.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-18.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henbane.

• Henbane on Erowid