Hyoscyamus niger L.

Annual or biennial, mostly densely hairy and glandular viscid; stems 30–60 cm tall. Lvs mostly sessile, but larger ones forming basal rosette with petiole several cm long; lamina 4–12 × 1.5–6 cm, ± ovate, coarsely dentate or lobulate; apex acute; midrib beneath hairy. Bracts leaflike. Fls subsessile, foetid. Calyx 1–1.5 cm long at anthesis, aristate, c. 2.5–3.5 cm long at fruiting, with a marked constriction below teeth, stiff and papery; tube campanulate at fruiting, pilose; teeth pungent. Corolla c. 2.5 × 2–3 cm diam., whitish or pale yellow with purplish veins in upper ⅔, dark purple in lower ⅓, becoming generally mauve or purplish when dry. Filaments white, glandular-hairy; anthers purple. Style purple. Capsule c. 1 cm diam., ± globose. Seeds ± reniform, strongly pitted.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

Flowering: Nov.–Jun.