HENBANE (Hyoscyamus niger) - Henbane is a member of the important order Solanaceae, to which belong the Potato, Tobacco and Tomato, and also the valuable Belladonna (see other listing for Belladonna Seed). Henbane was a common admixture to witches brews. The Priestesses of Delphi was thought to have used Henbane for prophetic purposes. Hyoscyamus niger was used in magic infusions to produce clairvoyant trance states. In the middle ages the dried herb and seeds were smoked as cigarettes. Like other solanacea plants, contain tropane alkaloids and should be regarded as poison.

Henbane is a slightly sticky, hairy annual. A rosette of basal leaves grows in the first year, followed in the second year by an erect, simple or slightly branched stem, and grows fairly tall and covered with sticky hairs. The alternate leaves are oval, deeply toothed and lobed-pinnate to indented. The lower leaves are stalked, the upper semi-enclosing. Sessile flowers grow from the axils of the upper leaves and have a bell-shaped, glandularly hairy, markedly veined calyx running into five sharply pointed tips and a funnel-shaped, dirty yellow, externally hairy corolla with violet veins and a reddish-violet mouth. The fruit capsules contain up to five hundred grayish-brown seeds. All parts of the plant is poisonous. The taste and odor are unpleasant and characteristic.

Modern Witches no longer work magically with henbane due to its poisonous attributes, however, in the days of old it was reputed that Witches (especially those of male gender) often used certain parts of the henbane as magickal ingredients in love-stimulating potions.

Germinating, planting and harvesting instructions are always included with my herb seed. I'll also enclose a history of this seed. These seeds are much too small for me to count but I would estimate that you will receive 75-100 seeds in your package.

Buyer agrees to pay $2.00 for postage if mailed within the United States. I will gladly ship Internationally but shipping to Canada will be $3.00 and shipping to all other International countries will be $4.00. International buyers must be able to pay via Paypal. From US buyers, I accept personal checks, cashier's check, money orders and Paypal payments.

Please email me if you have any questions. Yes, I will be happy to discount shipping on multiple seed orders.