Family : Solanaceae

English : Henbane

Hindi : Khurasani

Gujarati : Khurasani

Sanskrit : Parasik yavani

Part used : Seed

Botanical Description: An erect, foetid, viscidly hairy annual or biannual upto 1.5m in height; leaves simple, spreading coarsely dentate to pinnately lobed, stem leaves smaller, sessile, ovate, irregularly pinnatifid; flowers yellowish green, veined with purple, darker in the centre, lower ones in forks of the branches, upper solitary in the axils of leaf like bracts; fruits capsules, enclosed in globose enlarged calyx, seeds numerous, minute, kidney shaped brown. Flowering and fruiting from September to March.

It is widely distributed.

Modern Pharmacological Action: In ancient Iranian medicine, the plant has been used for diarrhoea, stomach pain and some central nervous system disorders such as Parkinsonism, hysteric patients and seizures. A study in favour of the anticonvulsant activity of the herb, showed that the aqueous extract of H. niger possesses anticonvulsant activity in the experimental animal model used.