Latin Name: Hyoscyamus niger

Origin:  Eurasia

Physical Description:   An annual/biennial plant from the nightshade/potato family (Solanaceae). It’s covered in sticky hairs and is unpleasant smelling. It can grow up to 1 m tall and has yellow-green, purple throated, flowers.

Habitat: Found in nutrient rich soils. It is often found in disturbed areas such as open rangelands, roadsides, and riparian areas.

Impacts:  All plant parts are toxic to livestock, animals and humans when ingested.

Reproduction:  Exclusively by seed. It has an urn-shaped “fruit” that pops off at maturity, spilling 10,000-500,000 seeds per plant.

Mechanical: Mowing is effective but difficult due to its thick stem. Hand pulling and digging is also effective. All mechanical removal should be completed prior to plants going to seed. Due to the toxicity of this plant, personal protective gear, such as gloves, should be worn during mechanical removal.

Chemical: Several herbicides with the following active ingredients can control Black henbane: dicamba, picloram, glyphosate, chlorsulfuron, and metsulfuron. For available products, contact your local agri-supply store. Prior to any herbicide application, read and follow the label instructions.

Biological: Not available.

Additional Resources: 

Province of BCs Invasive Species Alert. Black Henbane