“Hexing Herbs” in Ethnobotanical Perspective: a Historical Review of the Uses of Anticholinergic Solanaceae Plants in Europe
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“Hexing Herbs” in Ethnobotanical Perspective: A Historical Review of the Uses of Anticholinergic Solanaceae Plants in Europe KARSTEN FATUR Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia Though not the most frequently used botanical family, the Solanaceae or nightshade family has provided many plants of great importance around the world. Throughout Europe, the “hexing herbs,” plants from this family with anticholinergic alkaloids, have played an especially impor- tant role in the history and formation of traditions pertaining to plant use in many aspects of human life. Represented in Europe by the genera Atropa, Datura, Hyoscyamus, Mandragora,and Scopolia, the alkaloids hyoscyamine/atropine and scopolamine in these plants have allowed them to be used as medicines, poisons, and intoxicants, leading to the creation of a large mythos and extensive cultural valuation. Through a review of the literature, the exact roles that these “hexing herbs” have played in Europe in the past and present are discussed in this paper, ultimately showing the immense importance of these often misunderstood and vilified plants. Key Words: Ethnobotany, Solanaceae, Hexing herbs, Europe, Anticholinergic, Tropane alkaloids. Introduction made them invaluable to humans throughout the ages (Arroo et al. 2007;Boydetal.1984). Used as OVERVIEW inebriants, medicines, poisons, in rituals, and for many cultural inspirations, these plants have played Informally known as the “hexing herbs,” the a crucial role in the shaping of Europe. anticholinergic members of the Solanaceae that are Among these plants, five genera have been long found in Europe likely earned this name through represented in, or are native to, Europe. All are closely association with witches and magic. Referred to as related and have nearly identical physiological effects. “anticholinergic” due to their tropane alkaloids’ blocking of cholinergic action in the central and Atropa—A. belladonna peripheral nervous system, a result of their effects on muscarine receptors, these plants are the only Particularly known for its beautiful berries, natural source of the valuable (and psychoactive) this genus took its name from the Greek fate alkaloids scopolamine and hyoscyamine, as well as known to cut the life threads of mortals (Lee the racemic mixture of the latter’sL– and R– 2007). Represented by just one species in Europe, enantiomers that we call atropine (Adamse and its natural range extends across the continent from Egmond 2010; Arroo et al. 2007; Maheshwari west to east and down to the southern reaches; it has 2013). Though the Solanaceae may not be as im- also been introduced to North America (Passos and portant agriculturally as the Poaceae or Fabaceae, Mironidou–Tzouveleki 2016). Though long con- the ability of these alkaloids to influence our cardio- sidered less valuable than Mandragora, this plant is vascular, respiratory, and nervous systems have more common and has thus often been used as a substitute (Waniakowa 2007). Datura—D. stramonium 1 Received 2 October 2019; accepted 19 April 2020; published online 28 July 2020 D. stramonium L. is well known around the world, growing as a pesky annual weed in disturbed Economic Botany, 74(2), 2020, pp. 140–158 © 2020, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A. 2020] FATUR: “HEXING HERBS” IN ETHNOBOTANICAL PERSPECTIVE: A HISTORICAL REVIEW 141 soils, and thus often appearing in crop fields (Furbee imaginations of many and causing a large mythos and Wermuth 1997;Sonietal.2012). This genus and set of rituals to grow around it (Eleni et al. contains the widest range of tropane alkaloids of the 2009; Tasić 2012). plants discussed here, with as many as 64 having been identified (Debnath and Chakraverty 2017). Scopolia—S. carniolica Though D. stramonium has been the species of this genus that has been in Europe the longest, other Limited in its natural range to southeast Europe, species such as D. innoxia Mill., have started to this genus normally grows in beech forests and is escape ornamental gardens and grow wild in the closely related to Hyoscyamus (Festi 1996). Though warmer parts of Europe, especially along the Med- the rhizome of S. carniolica Jacq. is one of the main iterranean (Lakušić et al. 2017). sources of scopolamine in the modern pharmaceu- D. stramonium may be the more traditional Eu- tical industry, it seems to have been much less used ropean species, but debate persists about its origin. than the other hexing herbs throughout history The most accepted theory at present, however, (Gadzikowska and Grynkiewicz 2002). seems to involve a point of origin in the Americas with this plant then being brought back to Europe during the colonial era. Recreational Use Hyoscyamus—H. niger and H. albus Unsurprisingly, the powerful psychoactive alkaloids in the hexing herbs have led to their use as intoxicants. Originally found in the Balkan Peninsula, The wine of the famed Bacchanalian orgies of ancient Hyoscyamus niger L. spread through Europe as early Greece has been suggested to contain Atropa bella- as the Iron Age; now it is found around the world donna or Mandragora autumnalis to add to its in- growing as a weed in disturbed soils and waste areas, toxicating and arousing effect (Piccillo et al. 2006; while H. albus L. remains more tied to its region of Waniakowa 2007). Though this is theoretical at origin (Begum et al. 2010; Hocking 1947;Kroll best, there is a good basis for it. Wine in antiquity 1995; Orbak et al. 1998). has been claimed to be heavily diluted with water, and thus for it to cause the sorts of intoxications that Mandragora—M. officinarum and M. autumnalis are ascribed to it, it would need to include a strong inebriant besides the alcohol itself (Ruck 2015). Another Mediterranean genus, Mandragora has Hyoscyamus seeds have been suggested as being since been introduced to other parts of Europe, for mixed into the wine of antiquity independent of example, reaching England in the mid–1500s the Bacchanalian orgies, though this practice has (Passos and Mironidou–Tzouveleki 2016;Penicka been associated with the follies of youth, compara- 2008). Since antiquity, it was accepted that there ble to children sniffing glue in the modern era were two different European species. These were (Ruck 2015). This use of Hyoscyamus seeds in alco- traditionally referred to as a male species and a hol was likely far more widespread, with a large female species, thought to perhaps refer to number having been uncovered from what appears M. officinarum L. and M. autumnalis Bertol., re- to be a brewery in Germany dating as far back as spectively (Daunay et al. 2008;Waniakowa2007). 6000 B.C.E. (Stika 1996). Though still debated, today it is somewhat accepted Inthemiddleages,Hyoscyamus seeds were said to that these are the two European species that share a be thrown on stoves in bathrooms thus creating a sort of intoxicating sauna where people were then range in southern Europe. However, M. autumnalis “ ” is thought by some to be hardier and to have a range euphemistically said to collide with one another that extends further north (Jackson 1979). (Müller 1998). Hyoscyamus was also used through- This genus was immensely popular throughout out Europe to strengthen beer, and likely represent- the ages, even being the most written of plant in ed the intoxicant of the common person unable to the Solanaceae by Renaissance herbalists (Daunay afford costly pleasures (Fühner 1925;Leeand et al. 2008). Its popularity was a result of the Schilling 2006). This practice was so widespread mystical aura that surrounded it in the minds of (and occasionally deadly) that laws were passed against it in the early 1500s in what is now Germa- many throughout the years, likely caused by the š anthropomorphic shape of its root inspiring the ny (Cilen ek 1892; Fühner 1925). Additionally, its leaves came to be smoked in place of tobacco in 142 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 74 some regions, for example, the Satakunta region of manners within the past few decades in Europe Finland in the mid–eighteenth century C.E. (Gadd (Colombo et al. 2010; Hatziisaak and Weber 2007). It was also used in parts of the Balkan 1998; Piccillo et al. 2006; Vidović et al. 2005). In Peninsula for strengthening wine, a use that it fact, in the 1980s a company in Germany was shared with Atropa belladonna there (Stevanović advertising teas in youth magazines containing et al. 2014). plants such as A. belladonna, H. niger, H. muticus Later, Datura came to be used as an intoxicant in L., and Mandragora spp. to be used for hallucino- Europe. Powdered root and seeds were used in genic purposes (Pfänder et al. 1983). Likewise, either wine or meat to cause a “pleasant madness” S. carniolica was used as an intoxicant in Latvia among European peoples of the fifteenth century and Lithuania at least into the middle of the last C.E., while Russians also adopted the seeds for century (Fühner 1925). strengthening their beers (Lee and Schilling 2006; Similarly, linguistics give us a window into the Porta 1658). Though it had a later start, Datura world of intoxication. In Finnish, for example, the came to be the main intoxicating agent among the name for H. niger translates to “mad cabbage” while anticholinergic Solanaceae. As early as the 1800s, it D. stramonioum is known as “spikey crazy grass” came to be used as a recreational substance among (Lempiäinen 1992; Suhonen 1936). This suggests young people, a role that it has held to the present that the intoxicating powers of these plants have both in Europe and around the world (Cilenšek been known for a long period of time and were seen 1892). as an important facet of the plants’ natures. To describe Datura as being merely an intoxicant of the youth, however, would be inaccurate.