Henbane: A Witch’s Tale

Opening

Last night I had a peculiar and rather disturbing dream. I dreamt that I was driving my car at night careening wildly and uncontrollably along a coastal mountain highway. It was pitch black, high up on the winding and twisting roads with the sinister ocean waves crashing loudly beneath the cliffs. Quite suddenly, the car shot off the road and started plummeting toward the ocean below! I panicked and tried to scream but nothing came out! And just before the car hit the steely waves, an upwind blew the car back up toward the clouds, away from the ocean, and the car started flying into the night sky.

I was flying swiftly with magnificent views of the clouds, mountains, and the ocean flashing by the car windows. Soon the car came gently down, by that same wind, in a vast field of wildflowers—and it was then that I suddenly awoke. Phew-what a dream!  Could it have been all the late-night research on the Black Henbane article I was tasked with writing? Well, truth be told, there were several staggering facts I had uncovered during my readings that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up and I did lock all my doors that night.

Lore
Henbane has a rich and storied history in the annals of magic, spells, and ritual folklore.  Known as the ‘witches’ plant’ during the Middle Ages, Henbane was used by magicians, healers, and ‘cunning folk’ to make magic potions, tinctures, and, most notably, as a ‘flying balm’ for witches. It was said that when applied to the armpits (and other areas on the body), or smeared on a broomstick handle, it absorbs quickly into the skin and produces the sensation of flying. Hence the historical depiction of witches flying on broomsticks.

In his book, How Do Witches Fly? Alexander Kuklin refers to an experience of Black Henbane had by German scientist Michael Schenck. The Henbane’s first effect was purely physical discomfort. He writes: “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…I had the feeling that my head had increased in size; it seemed to have grown broader, more solid, heavier…I was flung into flaring drunkenness, a witches’ cauldron of madness.” Kukin’s account of ingesting Henbane certainly reminds me of the potion that Alice in Wonderland drank to grow bigger.

Particulars
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger L.) is a member of the Solanaceae family that includes common gastronomic delights such as tomatoes and potatoes but also includes Henbane’s sinister and highly poisonous siblings, Belladonna and Mandrake. Native to Europe and Asia, Henbane was originally brought to the East Coast of North America for medicinal purposes and now grows throughout much of the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

The Henbane lifecycle can be either annual or biennial. Biennial plants typically bloom from June through September, and annual plants tend to bloom later in the season. You can typically see them growing by roadsides, fields, and in fallow ground areas. Henbane can grow up to three feet tall, with biennials first forming a rosette and then stems. Both biennials and annuals possess a long taproot and reproduce by seeds that can remain dormant and viable in the soil for as long as five years.

All plant parts are poisonous to humans and most animals. So even if you can find it, don’t try it! Just inhaling the scent of the leaves is said to induce a stupor-like state in some individuals. Curiously, hogs seem to have developed a natural resistance to the poisons, hence the common name, hogs bean. Other, and arguably sinister common names include Black Henbane, Devil’s Eye, Poison Tobacco, and Stinking Nightshade.

Even the physical description of this plant is foreboding, with its large, pointed leaves, yellow flowers with purple veins and dark purple throat, and stems and leaves covered in sticky, smelly, glandular hairs. The fragrance, or rather fetid smell, of the plant foliage, is described as nauseating and foul-smelling with the entire plant tasting gluey, unpleasant, and bitter.

What makes Henbane so poisonous?  The answer lies in its chemical makeup consisting of atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and other tropane alkaloids. After ingestion, humans experience strong hallucinations, altered states of consciousness, restlessness, maniacal delirium, tachycardia, coma, and even death when the plant is ingested in large quantities.  The alkaloid, hyoscyamine, found in Henbane, has a similar divisive effect on the body as does Belladonna which shares the same alkaloid as well.

You may be wondering what there is to like about Henbane, and I must say at this point, I couldn’t fault you. But arguably, Henbane has been and is used in some beneficial ways. Henbane has been used to provide anesthetic and sedative-like relief for maladies such as gout and sciatica, and when combined with vinegar and applied to the temples, as a topical poultice for headaches.

In modern times, because the alkaloids in Henbane have been shown to possess antispasmodic properties, it has been used to treat the tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease and to aid in travel sickness. And it wasn’t all that long ago that oils derived from Henbane leaves were used in treating earaches and rheumatism and in some homeopathic treatments for coughs, and in some types of obsessive behavioral issues.

I must say that I enjoyed discovering the history, intrigue, and folklore of Black Henbane. It is worth noting again that this fascinating plant, in all its entirety and forms, is highly toxic so do practice extreme caution if you do come in contact or in proximity of it. For more information on poisonous plants check out this link: Poisonous Plants in Virginia

Closing
This morning, while readying my car to go on the last day of the Native Plant sale in Newport News, I was shocked to notice quite a bit of plant material stuck in between my car grill. How could this be? I had not been anywhere near a field in my car. Upon closer inspection, it looked like wildflowers and maybe even…dare I say it, some Black Henbane! Maybe it wasn’t a dream after all!

References
https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-henbane.htm
https://www.europeana.eu/en/exhibitions/magical-mystical-and-medicinal/henbane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hyoscyamus_niger

Thepoisondiaries.tumblr.com
Commons.wikimedia.org (Hyoscyamus niger 0002.JPG Free media repository; free to share, copy distribute, transmit the work w/attribution)
Herbal-supplement-resource.com
Photo credit: Bee Felten-Leidel, Unsplash.com, the Witch is In
The Powerful Solanaceae: Henbane – USDA Forest Service