Hyoscyamus — known as the henbanes — is a small genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. It comprises 11 species, all of which are toxic. It, along with other genera in the same family, is a source of the drug hyoscyamine (daturine).

1. Hyoscyamus
Parts Used:Hyoscyamus or henbane is the dried leaf, with or without the Stem and flowering
or fruiting top, of Hyoscyanius niger.
Family: Solanaceae
Geographical Source: The plant is an annual or biennial herb (Fig. 8-6) indigenous to
Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa and is cultivated in the Soviet Union, the Balkans,
Belgium, England, and Germany, and, to some extent, the United States and Canada.
Chemical Constituents : The alkaloids, hroscyarine and scopolamine, 0.05 to 0.15%, of
which three fourths is hyoscyamine, are the active principles. Hyoscyamus contains not less
than 0.04% of the alkaloids of hyoscyamus
Uses: Hyoscyamus is a parasympatholytic, but the crude drug is rarely employed in medicine
today.
Pilocarpine
Parts used : Pilocarpus or jaborandi Consists of the leaflets of Pi!ocarpus jaborandi Holmes
Geographical source : The plants are shrubs indigenous to Brazil.
Chemical constituents: Pilocarpine is the lactone of pilocarpic acid, an acid with a
glyoxaline nucleus. It is an oily, syrupy liquid, though its salts crystallize easily Pilocarpine
nitrate is the nitrate of the alkaloid. It is stable in air but is affected by light. Pilocarpine
hydrochloride occurs as colorless, translucent, odorless, faintly bitter crystals; pilocarpine
nitrate occurs as shiny, white crystals. Pilocarpine hydrochloride is the hydrochloride of an
alkaloid obtained from the dried leaflets of Pilocarpus jahornudi or of P micro phyllus. It is
hygroscopic All of the commercial kinds of piocarpus, when freshly dried, yield from 0.5 to
1% of the alkaloid piocarpine.
Uses and dose:
Both pilocarpine hydrochloride and pilocarpine nitrate are cholinergic (ophthalmic) drugs
used in the treatment of glaucoma. They are applied topically, 0.05 to 0.1 nil of a 0.25 to 10%
solution of pilocarpine hydrochloride or of a 0.5 to 6% solution of pilocarpine nitrate to the
conjunctiva, I to 6 times a day. The patient should be advised to wash hands immediately
after application .