Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade Family)
Genus: Hyoscyamus
Species: Albus
Common Names: Altersum, Apollinaris, Bily Blin (Bohemia), Diskiamos (modern Greek), Dontochorton (Cyprus), Gelbes Bilsenkraut, Belles Bilsenkraut, Hyoskyamos, Obecny (Bohemia), Russian Henbane, Sikran (Morocco), Yellow Henbane
Hyoscyamus albus is an herb that grows to a height of about 40 or 50 cm (19”). The plant grows vertically, although it often appears bushy because of its woolly light green stems, serrated leaves, calyxes, and fruits. The soft flowers are light yellow on the outside and often have a dark violet interior. The seeds are usually white or ocher, but are sometimes grey, and the berries are orange or yellow. The plant thrives in coastal areas; it is found primarily in southern Europe (Spain, Italy and Greece) and in the Near East (Ratsch 1998, 272).
The life-span of the plant is from one to three years and it is the hardiest and fastest-growing of the henbane family. Yellow henbane can grow in the poorest of soils, including sandy, clayey, or nutrient-poor varieties. The seeds need not be planted deep into the ground; loosely scattering them over such terrain invariably produces results. Occasional watering is necessary at first, but the plant should never be overwatered. It is heat-resistant and can also thrive in such adverse environments as the crevices of old walls and between rocks. Hyoscyamus albus is harvested while still in bloom and hung up to dry by its roots in a well-ventilated location for three to six weeks (Ratsch 1998, 272).
TRADITIONAL USES: Yellow henbane holds a special place as the most commonly used magical and medicinal plant of European antiquity. It was mostly referred to as white henbane in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries before it became known as yellow henbane in the modern era. Without a doubt henbane, particularly this species, was the paramount means in ancient times of inducing a trance-like state. Many oracles and soothsayers made use of it to assist in cultivating prophecies. It was known as the “dragon plant” of Gaia, the ancient earth oracle, the “Zeus bean” of the oracle of Zeus-Ammon of late ancient times and the Roman Jupiter, and the ‘Apollo’s plant” of Delphi (Keeler 2009).
Both alone and in combination with other teaching herbs, the seeds were burned and deliberately inhaled as ritual incense. The leaves were also used as an additive to wine. When the soothsayers and prophetesses ritualistically inhaled the smoke or drank the wine, they called upon a deity — usually Apollo. Once they were possessed by the god, they would speak out loud his or her messages. A priest “interpreted” these often unintelligible utterances (Parke, H.W. 1985).
In Morocco, yellow henbane (either just the seeds or the whole plant) is still used ritualistically as incense and is included in a mix of other herbs in psychoactive preparations. Peganum harmala is often included in this mix as well (Ratsch 1998, 273).
TRADITIONAL PREPARATION: The herbage from the plant is sometimes mixed equally with hemp flowers (indica, sativa, or a combination), and dried fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria) in a smoking blend that is said to have aphrodisiac qualities. The seeds can also be burned and inhaled to produce the clairvoyant trance-like states once enjoyed by the Greek oracles. Hyoscyamus albus has been smoked in recent times in Egypt, Balucstan, and the Punjab (Vries 1984 cited in Ratsch 1998, 272-273).
The fresh or dried herbage can be added to wine and used for pains and cramps. In Morocco, common wisdom is that even a very small amount will produce hallucinations (Vries 1984 cited in Ratsch 1998. 272-273).
MEDICINAL USE: Hyoscyamus albus has been characterized as a species with great medicinal value throughout history. The “founder of medicine” Hippocrates highly praised the medicinal use of henbane. Under his direction in ancient Greece, seeds were added to wine as a treatment for fever, tetanus, and gynecological ailments (Ratsch 1998, 273).
On Cyprus, an analgesic plaster is still made from the crushed leaves, which are also added to tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and smoked as a remedy for asthma. One cigarette of dried herbage can be smoked as a treatment for various respiratory ailments, including asthma, bronchitis, and coughs (Ratsch 1998, 273).
In the Golan Heights of Israel, where yellow henbane is commonly found, pastes and other concoctions containing the leaves are applied topically to treat skin ailments, open wounds, headaches, rheumatism, insect stings, and eye inflammation (Dafni & Yaniv 1994 cited in Ratsch 1998, 273).
TRADITIONAL EFFECTS: The tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, in addition to apo-scopolamine, norscopolamine, littorine, tropine, cuscohygrine, tigloidine, and tigloyloxytropane can be found in all parts of Hyoscyamus albus, in similar concentrations to what is found in H. niger (Voogelbreinder 2009, 194).
In ancient Greece, Hyoscyamus albus was well known to produce dramatic alterations of consciousness. Other reports mention a “divine kind of madness.” In ancient Greece “madness” was equated with inspiration, and it was divided into four parts, each with its own deity. Prophetic inspiration was ascribed to Apollo, mystical inspiration to Dionysus, poetic inspiration to the Muses, and love to the goddess Aphrodite. The ancient Greeks believed henbane had the capacity to subdue the waking mind, leaving room only for the divine. This sacred “plant of Apollo” is distinct from other species of henbane only in that it has been known traditionally to endow its recipient with the gift of prophecy. So, in other words, H. albus has the effect of sedating the external consciousness, leaving space for the individual to open to the divine (Ratsch 1998, 273).
REFERENCES
Keeler, Martin H., M.D., and Francis J. Kane Jr., M.D. “The Use of Hyoscyamine as a Hallucinogen and Intoxicant.” American Journal of Psychiatry Vol. 124 (1967): 852 – 854. 6 Dec. 2009 .
Parke, H.W. The Oracles of Apollo in Asia Minor. London: Croom Helm, 1985.
Ratsch, Christian. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 2005.
Voogelbreinder, Snu, Garden of Eden: The Shamanic Use of Psychoactive Flora and Fauna, and the Study of Consciousness. Snu Voogelbreinder, 2009.
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