HENBANE 'Black' --Hyoscyamus niger--

HENBANE', 'HENBELL'. Yellow, inch-wide, funnel-shaped flowers veined and netted with purple in the throat, in long spikes in June to Sept. These turn into long sprays of unusual, ornamental, urn-shaped capsules. Hardy biennial or annual to 2 - 4 feet, with pale green, lobed, 8" leaves, and silvery hairs. Mediterranean. Zone 3. The stalks of curiously formed capsules are valued in the dried floral trade. Has an ancient history of medicinal use, and was an ingredient in the famed sorcerers ointment of European witches. Important commercial pharmaceutical crop. Use GA-3 to germinate in 2 - 4 weeks.