Egyptian henbane
| Egyptian henbane | ||||||||||||
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Egyptian henbane ( Hyoscyamus muticus ) |
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| Hyoscyamus muticus | ||||||||||||
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The plant species Egyptian henbane ( Hyoscyamus muticus ) belongs to the nightshade family (Solanaceae).
description
Vegetative characteristics
The Egyptian henbane grows as a perennial herbaceous plant that can reach heights of up to 90 centimeters. The sticky, green parts of the plant give off an unpleasant odor. The alternate leaves are serrated.
Generative characteristics
The flowers are in dense, spiked inflorescences with foliage -like bracts . The hermaphrodite flowers are five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five petals have a white vein . Their color varies between predominantly purple and sulfur yellow and darkens towards the calyx . The flowering period begins in May and extends into autumn.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 28, less often 30.
ecology
Occasional swarms of locusts are popular with Duméril's fringed lizard . However, some locusts like the desert locust prefer plants like the Egyptian henbane, which contain toxins , and sequester them in their body with high population density (Gregaria phase) . They then develop an aposematism by intensifying their coloring. Duméril's fringed lizards avoid desert locusts with such warning colors , especially in the Gregaria phase.
Occurrence
The Egyptian henbane, which grows preferentially in sandy locations , is native to Algeria, Libya, Egypt to Sudan , Niger, Chad, Ethiopia, Syria , Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Populations can be found from North Africa to the Middle East .
Systematics
Two subspecies can be distinguished:
- Hyoscyamus muticus L. subsp. muticus : It occurs in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
- Hyoscyamus muticus subsp. falezlez (Coss.) Maire : It occurs in Algeria, Libya, Niger, Chad, Ethiopia and Sudan.
ingredients
The plant parts contain the most poisonous tropane alkaloids of all Hyoscyamus species , including primarily scopolamine and (S) -hyoscyamine . In addition, traces of the tropane alkaloids (R) -hyoscyamine , aposcoplamin , norscopolamine , littorin , tropine , cuskohygrin , tigloidin and tigloyloxytripan should be mentioned. The highest concentration is in the flowers (2%), followed by leaves (1.4 to 1.7%) and seeds (0.9 to 1.3%). The stems contain the smallest amount at 0.5 to 0.6%.
Of all the Hyoscyamus species, Hyoscyamus muticus is the most intoxicating species. Life-threatening poisoning is possible, but rarely diagnosed.
use
The Egyptian henbane is cultivated as an annual or biennial herbaceous plant, depending on the time of sowing and / or the weather conditions.
Even 5000 years ago, henbane was used as a medicinal plant in Mesopotamia (Egyptian henbane in particular).
The ancient Assyrians occasionally added henbane to their beers . In ancient Egypt, Hyoscyamus muticus was used as a ritual intoxicant. For criminal purposes, according to Rätsch, the drug was used as a neurotoxin and offered the drug mixed in food to potential victims who, after consumption, fell into delirium and could be stolen without resistance.
swell
- FM Hammouda, SI Ismail, NS Abdel-Azim & KA Shams: Hyoscyamus muticus. (pdf; 94 kB) In: Medicinal Plants of North Africa. IUCN, pp. 153–155 , accessed May 11, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hammouda et al .: Hyoscyamus muticus from Medicinal Plants of North Africa .
- ^ Hyoscyamus muticus at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ^ Gregory A. Sword, Stephen J. Simpson, Ould Taleb M. El Hadi, Hans Wilps: Density-dependent aposematism in the desert locust. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences , Volume 267, No. 1438, 2000, pp. 63-68, doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2000.0967 (full text).
- ^ A b c Hyoscyamus in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
- ↑ Wolf Dieter Storl: Götterpflanze henbane , Nachtschatten Verlag 2000, ISBN 978-3907080634 .
- ↑ Irmtraut Seybold, Peter Roll: Herb gardens in Mesopotamia: Medicinal plants, their meaning and their application. In: Bernhard Scholz (Ed.): The Oriental Man and His Relationship to the Environment, Contributions to the 2nd Graz Oriental Symposium (March 2-5, 1989). Graz 1989 (= Grazer Morgenländische Studien , 2), pp. 297–309; here: pp. 298–304.
- ↑ H.-P. Michael Freyer: Hyoscyamus niger. On the teaching and application history of a poisonous plant. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 18, 1999, pp. 189-221; here: p. 190 f.
- ↑ Christian Rätsch: Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants , AT-Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3038003526 .
