of elder (Sambucus nigra), for the necklace placed round infants’ necks when
teething (for more on which see under henbane,Hyoscyamus niger).
Atropa belladonna Linnaeus
deadly nightshade
central and southern Europe, western Asia, North Africa;
introduced into North America, New Zealand
(Name confusion suspected) The handful of records for folk uses allegedly of
Atropa belladonna almost certainly belong to Solanum dulcamara,which so
generally and confusingly shares its name among the non-botanical. The
total lack of any convincing ones for the plant truly so called, by no means
rare in the chalky areas of England, suggests that its notoriously ultra-poiso-
nous character (three berries are sufficient to kill a child) firmly excluded it
from the folk repertory. Though other poisonous species such as hemlock
(Conium maculatum) were harnessed to some extent for healing purposes,
this one alone would seem to have been accepted as prohibitively dangerous
to handle or experiment with.
Hyoscyamus niger Linnaeus
henbane
Europe, western Asia, North Africa; introduced into North America,
Australasia
A mostly scarce plant of usually fleeting appearances after long periods of
dormancy,Hyoscyamus nigerhas often been dismissed as wholly a relic in the
British Isles of its past herbal use; but a good case can be made for consider-
ing it native on beaches, one of quite a number of species adapted to that
open habitat as ‘strand casuals’. ‘Experience has shown that the wild seaside
herb... is more effective than the product of cultivation’,^37 so it may even be
distinct genetically. As one of the most ancient of herbs, traceable back in
written records to the Babylonians and in prehistoric levels in Britain to the
Early Neolithic, it is likely to have been prized in antiquity so highly as to
form an exception to the general rule that in order to be utilised by humans
a plant had to be plentiful, at least locally.
Containing alkaloids which have a hypnotic as well as sedative effect, hen-
bane’s place in medicine was probably long subordinate to its value as a hal-
lucinogen taken to induce trances and visions; though an archaeological find
in Fife has been interpreted as indicative of that, conclusive evidence of such
a use in Britain or Ireland is lacking.^38 The plant’s name in Welsh has been
interpreted as signifying an ability to prevent or cure faintness,^39 and a prepa-
Gentians and Nightshades 197