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Hyoscyamus niger
Also called Henbane, Stinking Nightshade, Common Henbane, Hog's Bean
Black henbane is a poisonous annual or biennial herb of the nightshade family, native to Europe and Western Asia and grown mainly for medicinal use. Its key to growing is sowing seed, since fully ripe seed is dormant and often needs cold stratification.
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger, also black henbane and stinking nightshade) is a poisonous plant belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of the nightshade family Solanaceae. Henbane is native to temperate Europe and Siberia, and naturalised in Great Britain and Ireland.
Henbane originated in Eurasia, and is now globally distributed as a plant grown mainly for pharmaceutical purposes. Henbane is rare in northern Europe; its cultivation for medicinal use is widespread and legal in central and eastern Europe and in India. Seeds of henbane from north-west Himalaya are reported to exhibit dormancy, and germination can be induced by the application of gibberellic acid, nitrates, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and by moist cold stratification. Sharma (2024) observed that fully matured seeds of H. niger exhibited dormancy and in contrast, the comparatively immature seeds germinated well. The latter can be manipulated for the propagation of Henbane without seed pre-treatments.
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. Adhesive bandages with henbane extract behind the ear are reported to prevent discomfort in travel-sick people. Henbane oil is used for medicinal massage.
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. In all preparations, the dosage has to be carefully estimated as henbane is highly toxic. For some therapeutic applications, dosages like 0.5 g and 1.5–3 g were used. The lethal dosage is not known.
Henbane is toxic to cattle, wild animals, fish, and birds. 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.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hyoscyamus niger by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
