Family |
Solanaceae
Hyoscyamus albus
L.
Hyoscyamus albus L.
(Sp. Pl.: 180, 1753; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 212; Pl. LXX nº 1; 1966)
• Life-form & habit: Annual to biennial herb, 20–60 cm tall, viscid-pubescent with glandular hairs, emitting a strong unpleasant odor. Stems erect, simple or branched from the base.
• Leaves: Lower leaves petiolate, ovate to oblong, irregularly sinuate-dentate; upper leaves sessile, amplexicaul, ovate-lanceolate, margins dentate, both surfaces pubescent.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers in terminal and axillary cymes, shortly pedicellate, subtended by foliaceous bracts. Calyx campanulate, accrescent in fruit, with long, rigid, spreading teeth. Corolla white to cream, often with yellowish tint, throat veined with violet, 15–25 mm, funnel-shaped, lobes short and rounded. Stamens included; style exserted.
• Fruit: Capsule ovoid, enclosed within the persistent calyx, opening by a lid; seeds numerous, reniform, finely reticulate.
• Phenology: Flowers April–July.
• Habitat & elevation: Roadsides, field margins, waste ground, dry slopes; from sea level up to c. 1,200 m.
• Lebanese distribution: Coastal plains (Beirut, Tripoli, Saida), Beqaa (Zahlé, Baalbeck), foothills of Mount Lebanon.
• Syrian distribution: Damascus plain, Hauran, Aleppo, Latakia, Palmyra.
• Native range: Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Egypt, France, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon–Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Ukraine, Yemen (POWO).
• Introduced into: Czechia-Slovakia, Florida, Germany, India, New Jersey, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria (POWO).
⚠️ Diagnostic note: Distinguished from Hyoscyamus niger by its smaller stature, white to cream flowers with violet veins, and shorter, less inflated calyx teeth.