Hyoscyamus — known as thehenbanes — is agenus offlowering plants in thenightshade family,Solanaceae. It comprises 31 species,[2] all of which are toxic. It, along with other genera in the same family, is a source of the drughyoscyamine (daturine). Cruciferous type of stomata are present in Hyoscyamus.
Thepoisonous,narcotic henbanes were associated withwitchcraft since earliest times. TheAssyrians recommended hanging them on one's door to ward offsorcery.Witches found them valuable especially due to their trance-inducing capabilities, and they were used inflying ointment rituals. They have been used to lessen pain,neuralgia and diminishconvulsions.Dioscorides recommended them largely for external pain killing use. The leaves are made into a kind ofcigarette to relieveasthma and other respiratory ailments.[4]
Hyoscyamus insanus, from Griffith, W., Icones plantarum asiaticarum, 1854Hyoscyamus squarrosus, likewise from Griffith, W., Icones plantarum asiaticarum, 1854
^"Hyoscyamus L."Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2009-09-01. Archived fromthe original on 2008-10-05. Retrieved2010-04-29.
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Data related toHyoscyamus at Wikispecies
