Ajay Kumar at 17:05, 29 August 2023

2023-08-29T17:05:40Z

New page

{{Short description|Species of plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Hyoscyamus_niger_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-073.jpg
| image_caption = ''Hyoscyamus niger'' in [[Köhler's Medicinal Plants]], 1887
| genus = Hyoscyamus
| species = niger
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]
}}

'''''Hyoscyamus niger''''', [[common name|commonly known]] as '''henbane''', '''black henbane''', or '''stinking nightshade''', is a [[poison]]ous plant in the nightshade family [[Solanaceae]].<ref name="Kennedy 2014">{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=David O. |year=2014 |chapter=The Deliriants - The Nightshade (''Solanaceae'') Family |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YUNDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 |title=Plants and the Human Brain |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=131–137 |isbn=9780199914012 |lccn=2013031617}}</ref><ref name="Roberts_31">{{Harvnb|Roberts|Wink|1998|p=31}}</ref> It is native to [[Temperate climate|temperate]] [[Europe]] and [[Siberia]], and naturalised in [[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/plant/hyoscyamus-niger|title=Hyoscyamus niger | Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora|access-date=2020-11-25|archive-date=2021-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203175845/https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/plant/hyoscyamus-niger|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Historical use==
The name ''henbane'' dates at least to AD 1265. The origins of the word are unclear, but "hen" probably originally meant death rather than referring to [[chicken]]s.<ref>{{cite book | title = An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction | author = Anatoly Liberman, J. Lawrence Mitchell | publisher = U of Minnesota Press | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8166-5272-3 | pages = 108–110 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_m7k1Oi-cakC&q=henbane+An+Analytic+Dictionary+of+English&pg=PA108 }}</ref> Other etymologies of the word associate it with the Indo-European stem ''*bhelena'' whose hypothetical meaning is 'crazy plant'<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bilsenkraut. Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde|last=Hoops|first=J.|year=1973|pages=1:284}}</ref> and with the Proto-Germanic element ''bil'' meaning ‘vision, hallucination; magical power, miraculous ability’.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Heilige bäume, bilsenkraut und bildzeitung|last=de Vries|first=H.|publisher=Suedergellersen, Germany: Verlag Bruno Martin|year=1993|location=In Naturverehrung und Heilkunst, ed. C. Raetsch|pages=65–83}}</ref>

Henbane was historically used in combination with other plants, such as [[Mandragora officinarum|mandrake]], [[deadly nightshade]], and [[datura]], as an [[anaesthetic]] potion, as well as for its [[psychoactive]] properties in "magic brews".<ref name="Kennedy 2014"/><ref name="Roberts_31" /><ref name="carter2003">{{cite journal | url = http://www.jrsm.org/cgi/reprint/96/3/144.pdf | volume = 96 |date=March 2003 | journal = Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine | title = Myths and mandrakes | author = Anthony John Carter MB FFARCS | pages = 144–147 | pmc = 539425 | doi = 10.1177/014107680309600312 | pmid = 12612119 | issue = 3}}</ref><ref name="carter1996">{{cite journal | url= | journal = British Medical Journal | date = 1996-12-21 | volume = 313 | issue = 7072 | pages = 1630–1632 | pmc = 2359130 | title = Narcosis and nightshade | author = A. J. Carter | pmid = 8991015| doi=10.1136/bmj.313.7072.1630}}</ref><ref name="Fatur 140–158">{{Cite journal|last=Fatur|first=Karsten|date=June 2020|title="Hexing Herbs" in Ethnobotanical Perspective: A Historical Review of the Uses of Anticholinergic Solanaceae Plants in Europe|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12231-020-09498-w|journal=Economic Botany|language=en|volume=74|issue=2|pages=140–158|doi=10.1007/s12231-020-09498-w|s2cid=220844064|issn=0013-0001}}</ref> These psychoactive properties include visual hallucinations and a sensation of flight.<ref name="Schultes_22">Schultes & Smith 1976, p. 22</ref> It was originally used in [[continental Europe]], [[Asia]], and the [[Arab world]],<ref>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]</ref> though it did spread to England in the [[Middle Ages]]. The use of henbane by the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] was documented by [[Pliny the Elder|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]].<ref name="Grieve, Maud 1971">{{cite book|title=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|author=Grieve, Maud|year=1971}}</ref>

The plant, recorded as ''Herba Apollinaris'', was used to yield [[oracle]]s by the priestesses of [[Apollo]].<ref name="Roberts_31" /> Recently evidence for its use in the earlier British Neolithic has been debated.<ref>Black Henbane (''Hyoscyamus niger'' L.) in the Scottish Neolithic, Journal of Archaeological Science (1999) 26, 45–52</ref> [[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."<ref name="Grieve, Maud 1971"/>

The plant was also purportedly used as a fumigant for [[magic (supernatural)|magical]] purposes.<ref name="Fatur 140–158"/> [[Albertus Magnus]], in his work ''De Vegetalibus'' (1250), reported that [[necromancers]] used henbane to invoke the souls of the dead as well as demons.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The encyclopedia of psychoactive plants: ethnopharmacology and its applications|last=Raetsch|first=Ch.|publisher=US: Park Street Press|year=2005|pages=277–282}}</ref> Henbane was already being demonized as early as the [[Late Middle Ages]] when it became inseparably associated with [[witchcraft]] and [[Maleficium (sorcery)|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).<ref name=":0"/>

During a [[Duchy of Pomerania|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).<ref name=":0"/>

Henbane was one of the ingredients in [[gruit]], traditionally used in [[beer]]s as a flavouring. Several cities, most notably [[Plzeň|Pilsen]], were named after its German name "Bilsenkraut" in the context of its production for beer flavouring.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christian-raetsch.de/Artikel/Artikel/Urbock-oder-echtes-Bier.html|author=Christian Rätsch|date=2015-07-29|access-date=2015-08-26|title=Urbock oder echtes Bier|quote=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.|language=de |author-link=Christian Rätsch}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0"/> Henbane fell out of usage for beer when it was replaced by [[hops]] in the 11th to 16th centuries, as the [[Reinheitsgebot|Bavarian Purity Law]] of 1516 outlawed ingredients other than barley, hops, yeast, and water.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XRyxWu8rRnQC&q=grut+henbane&pg=PR12 | title = The Dictionary of Beer and Brewing | author = Dan Rabin, Carl Forget | publisher = Taylor & Francis | year = 1998 | isbn = 978-1-57958-078-0 | no-pp = true | page = xii }}</ref>

Henbane is sometimes identified with the "[[hebenon]]" poured into the ear of [[Hamlet]]'s father,<ref name="carter2003" /><ref>{{cite web | title = Hebenon | url = http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?action=search&word=hebenon&resource=Webster%27s&quicksearch=on | website = Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828) | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090724214156/http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?action=search&word=hebenon&resource=Webster%27s&quicksearch=on | archive-date = 2009-07-24 }}</ref> although other candidates for hebenon exist.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_m7k1Oi-cakC&q=hebenon+henbane&pg=PA110 | title = An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction | author = Anatoly Liberman, J. Lawrence Mitchell | publisher = U of Minnesota Press | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8166-5272-3 | pages = 110–111 }}</ref>

=== Theories ===

Henbane seeds have been found in a [[Viking]] grave near [[Fyrkat]], [[Denmark]], that was first described in 1977.<ref>{{Cite book|title= The Viking way : religion and war in late Iron Age Scandinavia|last= S.|first= Price, Neil|date= 2002|publisher= Dept. of Archaeology and Ancient History|others= [[Uppsala University]] |isbn= 978-9150616262|location= Uppsala|oclc= 52987118}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Pentz|first1=Peter|last2=Baastrup Panum| first2= Maria| last3=Karg| first3= Sabine |last4= Mannering|first4=Ulla|date=2009|title=Kong Haralds vølve |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236874706|journal= Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark | via= researchgate.net |pages=215–232|quote= Da graven og gravpladsen blev beskrevet første gang (1977)....}}</ref> 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 [[berserker]]s to induce the rage state that they used in war.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fatur|first=Karsten|date=2019-11-15|title=Sagas of the Solanaceae: Speculative ethnobotanical perspectives on the Norse berserkers |journal= [[Journal of Ethnopharmacology]] |volume=244|pages=112151|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2019.112151|pmid=31404578|issn=0378-8741|doi-access=}}</ref>

==Cultivation and use==
[[File:Henbane Hand book of pharmacy and therapeutics b1007511 004 tif c821gk83z.tiff|thumb|right|Henbane cultivation, Lilly Experimental Farm, 1919]]
Henbane originated in [[Eurasia]], and is now globally distributed<ref name="Roberts_31" /> 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.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref>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.</ref> Adhesive bandages with henbane extract behind the ear are reported to prevent discomfort in travel-sick people.{{medical citation needed|date=September 2018}} Henbane oil is used for medicinal massage.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Hyoscyamus|last=Lindequist|first=U.|publisher=Berlin: Springer|year=1993|location=In Haegers Handbuch der pharmazeutischen Praxis, 5th ed., 5.|pages=460–74}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0" />

==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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":1" />

Henbane is [[toxic]] to cattle, wild animals, fish, and birds.<ref name=":0" /> Not all animals are susceptible; for example, the [[larva]]e of some [[Lepidoptera]] species, including [[cabbage moth]]s, eat henbane. Pigs are immune to henbane toxicity and are reported to enjoy the effects of the plant.<ref name=":0" />

== Psychoactive material ==

[[Hyoscyamine]], [[scopolamine]], and other [[tropane alkaloids]] have been found in the foliage and seeds of the plant.<ref name="Roberts_31" /> The standard alkaloid content has been reported to be 0.03% to 0.28%.<ref name=":0" />

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 [[Receptor antagonism|antagonizes]] the [[muscarinic receptors]].<ref name="Kennedy 2014"/><ref name="pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">{{cite journal | title=Understanding Central Nervous System Effects of Deliriant Hallucinogenic Drugs through Experimental Animal Models | journal= ACS Chemical Neuroscience | date=16 October 2018 | pmid= 30252437 | url= https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30252437/ | access-date=18 May 2021| last1= Volgin | first1= A. D. | last2= Yakovlev | first2= O. A. | last3= Demin | first3= K. A. | last4= Alekseeva | first4= P. A. | last5= Kyzar | first5= E. J. | last6= Collins | first6= C. | last7= Nichols | first7= D. E. | last8= Kalueff | first8= A. V. | volume= 10 | issue= 1 | pages= 143–154 | doi= 10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00433 | s2cid= 52824516 }}</ref> This results in an altered state of consciousness, hallucinogenic experiences, and typically, [[delirium]].<ref>Duncan, D. F., and Gold, R. S. (1982). Drugs and the Whole Person. New York: John Wiley & Sons</ref><ref name="Kuklin">{{cite book | last = Kuklin | first = Alexander | title = How Do Witches Fly?| publisher = DNA Press |date=February 1999 | isbn = 0-9664027-0-7 }}</ref> This mechanism of action is not only linked to dangerous effects and accidents, but [[dementia]] as well.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lycaeum.org/mv/mu/datura.html |title=Datura Items |publisher=Lycaeum.org |access-date=2011-01-04 |archive-date=2010-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101003095140/http://www.lycaeum.org/mv/mu/datura.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=2300 |title = Study suggests link between long-term use of anticholinergics and dementia risk |publisher = [[Alzheimer's Society]] |date = 26 January 2015 |access-date = 17 February 2015 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151112115547/https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=2300 |archive-date = 12 November 2015 }}</ref><ref name="pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"/> 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 [[Transdermal administration|transdermally]], often in “[[Flying ointment|magical ointments]]” by herbalists, witches and [[cunning folk]].<ref>Rätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications'' pub. Park Street Press 2005</ref><ref name= "Hansen">Hansen, Harold A. The Witch's Garden pub. Unity Press 1978 {{ISBN|978-0913300473}}</ref><ref name="Fatur 140–158"/> 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.<ref>{{cite book| last= Sollmann| first= Torald | title= A Manual of Pharmacology and Its Applications to Therapeutics and Toxicology | edition=8th| publisher= W.B. Saunders| place= Philadelphia and London | year= 1957}}</ref><ref name="Hansen"/>

==Effects==
Henbane ingestion by humans is followed simultaneously by peripheral inhibition and central stimulation.<ref name=":0" /> Common effects of henbane ingestion include [[hallucinations]],<ref name="Roberts_31" /> dilated pupils, [[Unconsciousness|narcosis]], restlessness, and flushed skin. Less common effects are [[tachycardia]], [[convulsions]], vomiting, [[hypertension]], [[hyperpyrexia]], and [[ataxia]].<ref name="Roberts_31" /> 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 [[Toxidrome#Anticholinergic|anticholinergic syndrome]], coma, respiratory paralysis, and death. Low and average dosages have inebriating and aphrodisiac effects.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

In his book ''How Do Witches Fly?'', Alexander Kuklin refers to an experience of black henbane had by German scientist Michael Schenck.<ref name="Kuklin"/> Schenck recollected his experience:

{{blockquote|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:

{{blockquote|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.<ref name="Kuklin"/>}}

==Misidentification==
[[File:Apothecary vessels Hyoscyamus 19th century.jpg|thumb|upright|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 [[Chenopodium album|fat hen]], a member of the spinach family.<ref>{{cite news
|title=TV chef Worrall Thompson recommends deadly weed as salad ingredient
|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/04/foodanddrink.foodsafety?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
|work=[[The Guardian]]
|date=August 4, 2008
|access-date=2008-08-04
| location=London
| first=Anil
| last=Dawar}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Henbane2.jpg|Large flowering henbane
File:Белена чёрная KR 01.jpg|Henbane in flower
File:Hyoscyamus niger, Solanaceae.jpg|Close-up of flower
File:Белена чёрная KR 03.jpg|Henbane fruits
File:Hyoscyamus niger seeds.jpg|Henbane seeds
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

;General
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book
| last1 = Roberts
| first1 = Margaret F.
| last2 = Wink
| first2 = Michael
| year = 1998
| title = Alkaloids: biochemistry, ecology, and medicinal applications
| publisher = Springer
| pages = 31–32
| isbn = 978-0-306-45465-3
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bMCzyrAtrvYC&q=henbane
| access-date = 2006-12-27
}}
* {{Cite web
|title=Henbane
|publisher=Clinicalmind.com
|url=http://www.clinicalmind.com/supplements/henbane.htm
|access-date=2007-08-18
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927064555/http://www.clinicalmind.com/supplements/henbane.htm
|archive-date=2007-09-27
|url-status=dead
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Hyoscyamus niger|Henbane}}
* [http://www.erowid.org/plants/henbane/henbane.shtml Henbane] on [[Erowid]]

{{Ancient anaesthesia-footer}}
{{Hallucinogens}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q161058}}

[[Category:General anesthetics]]
[[Category:Deliriants]]
[[Category:Entheogens]]
[[Category:Flora of Europe]]
[[Category:Flora of North Africa]]
[[Category:Flora of temperate Asia]]
[[Category:Flora of tropical Asia]]
[[Category:Herbal and fungal hallucinogens]]
[[Category:Medicinal plants of Asia]]
[[Category:Medicinal plants of Europe]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1753]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
[[Category:Hyoscyamus|niger]]
[[Category:Necromancy]]

Hyoscyamus niger - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 17:05, 29 August 2023