05/17/2026
We have a treat today-a flowering Henbane! Hyoscyamus niger is one of the coolest and most famous poisonous plants and we got very lucky to not only have this one grow for us, but to flower as well! Commonly known as a “witches herb” Henbane is allegedly one of the ingredients in flying ointment-which allegedly gave the person a feeling of “flying” and where our image of witches on brooms comes from. But its history goes much further back than that! It was one of the most important herbs to Vikings and Druids and has even been found in graves. The Vikings used it both medicinally (as an analgesic for things like tooth aches) and as a psychoactive drug, believed to be taken when they would go on raids. Since it is a poison and hallucinogen, it would cause very dilated pupils, blacking out their eye, and induce a feeling of frenzy. You can imagine how intimidating a screaming Viking with black eyes could be! This herb has history back to the Romans as well, and was described in great detail by Pliny the Elder. It’s native to Eastern Europe and Siberia but was naturalized in Western Europe pretty quickly and is now distributed worldwide. In fact, it was often used as a flavoring in beer-well before Hops came into favor! Not sure we’d want to taste that though 😵💫. Used as an analgesic, anesthetic, and anti-emetic when used topically, it has largely fallen out of favor as a medicinal herb due to its high toxicity. It is still well respected as a sacred herb in many magical communities. Another fun fact-pigs are actually immune to its toxicity and seem to allegedly enjoy its psychoactive effects! 🐷
