Wartime home grown anaesthetics. Part 3: Autumn

Foxglove

In this series we are looking at plants which were used as anaesthetics in ancient Roman and medieval times and in wartime Britain.  In my last two posts in March and June, I described the progress of several such plants including henbane, jimsonweed / thornapple, white bryony / English mandrake, mediterranean / european mandrake, opium poppy, hemlock / poison hemlock, monkshood / wolfsbane and deadly nightshade.  It’s now September, so let’s take a look at how these plants have got on in the last three months.


Henbane seed capsules

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger)


This annual plant has completed its life cycle by setting seed.  When the seed capsules dry out and turn brown they develop a ring of sharp spikes to deter predators, which makes harvesting the seeds rather painful at times!  The capsule is sealed with a cap; when the plant is ready to release its seeds the cap falls out and the seeds are scattered.


These plants only grew to about a foot tall, their maximum height under optimum conditions being about three feet, probably due to the effect of the cold Isle of Man winds.  More about this below.


Jimsonweed / Thornapple (Datura stramonium)


These plants did well but only with a lot of protection from the wind.  As described in a previous post, the Isle of Man is a small island in the middle of the Irish Sea, on quite a northerly latitude, and experiences strong, cold, salt laden winds for most of the year except the summer months.  This exerts a dehydrating effect on plants.  Some plants are adapted to this and can tolerate it; others can’t. 


Three jimsonweed plants

Here is a picture of three jimsonweed plants.  The plant on the left is large, glossy and healthy.  The plant in the middle is so-so; it is surviving but most of the leaves have fallen off and the remaining ones are a bit yellow.  The one on the right is tiny and stunted.  Believe it or not, all three plants were grown from seed from the same parent plant, planted in the same seed tray at the same time in March, and grown on in the same conditions in a cold frame.  The only difference is that the tiny stunted plant was planted out in the open in May, the middle one in June and the one on the left in July.  That is the effect of the wind.  The tiny stunted plant never recovered from its early exposure to wind, even after the weather warmed up and the wind dropped.


Maple the Manic Puppy guarding the jimsonweed crop.

Jimsonweed flower

These strange spiky fruits give the plant its alternative name of Thornapple

The fruits are starting to split open and release their seeds 

White bryony growing against a fence


White bryony / English mandrake (Bryonia alba)


This is native to the British Isles and has no difficulty thriving here, even with the wind.  It is a perennial, but every year the above-ground parts of the plant die off, leaving the dormant turnip-like root in the ground, which sends up new shoots the following spring.  As you can see from the above photograph, in the course of a 6 month growing season it has spread to cover an area of the fence about four feet high by ten feet wide.


White bryony flower

White bryony berries

Mediterranean / European mandrake


Mediterranean / European mandrake (Mandragora officinarum)


The photograph shows the mandrake plants in July, not looking much different from how they looked in June, following which they started to die back.  They are a Mediterranean plant not really suited to a northern climate and can probably only be raised successfully here in a greenhouse, which I don’t have.  Fortunately, white bryony is a reasonable substitute as it contains similar active ingredients but grows much better here.


Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)

Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)


These grow reasonably well here but don’t like the cold wind which tends to stunt their growth.  Poppies grow naturally as a cornfield weed where they are protected from the wind by the plants around them.  In the above photo you can see a large crop of poppies in flower.


A poppy flower close up.

A dried seed capsule releasing its seeds


When the seeds are ready, small vents open at the top of the seed capsules allowing the seeds to disperse.


If you are growing opium poppies, be mindful of your local laws which vary from one jurisdiction to another.  Here in the Isle of Man, it is legal to grow opium poppies for decorative purposes although not to extract opium from them.  In other jurisdictions such as Canada, the laws are stricter and opium poppies may not be grown except under licence.


Douglas Borough Council's opium poppy crop

To illustrate the point about laws (and in case any law enforcement officials are reading this) the above photograph shows opium poppies growing, perfectly legally, in the public gardens on Douglas Promenade in the Isle of Man.  They were planted by Douglas Borough Council.  


Monkshood


Monkshood / Wolfsbane (Aconitum spp)


The photograph above shows monkshood (blue flowers) surrounded by opium poppies (red flowers).  


Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna)


Under ideal conditions these plants can grow up to 5 feet hight, but this year mine barely reached three inches, probably because of the wind - similar to the jimsonweed.  I haven’t included a photograph because they haven’t grown at all since the previous photograph in June.  Next year I will grow them in a cold frame and not plant them out until July. 


Corn

Apples

Redcurrants

And finally, a reminder that I don’t just grow toxic plants on my allotment in the Isle of Man.  I grow lots of edible plants too.  Here are photographs of my corn, apples and redcurrants.  Food insecurity, food price inflation and food shortages are coming.  They have already come to 82 countries:


https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/global-food-crisis


and sooner or later, they will come to you.  Everyone should be learning how to grow food, or positioning themselves so they are close to where food is produced.  If you wait until the crisis occurs, it will be too late.


On that sobering note, I will sign off until December, when I hope to complete this 4-part series by explaining how to use some of the plants I have grown.


Slaynt vie, bea veayn, beeal fliugh as baase ayns Mannin




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