Hyoscyamus albus

Native to the Mediterranean basin (southern Europe, North Africa, Macaronesia, western Asia), Hyoscyamus albus, or white henbane, belongs to the family Solanaceae. Unlike most plants in this catalogue, it is not a bulbous geophyte but a biennial or short-lived perennial with a taproot. Covered in sticky, glandular hairs and strongly scented, it forms a rosette of lobed leaves from which a stem up to 90 cm tall arises. It flowers in spring (April-May), producing pale yellow, funnel-shaped flowers with a throat veined in violet. It grows readily in old walls and rocky crevices, in dry, sunny situations; all parts of the plant are toxic.