Witches’ flying ointment – Part 2

Following on from my last post in June, we are going to look at how the toxic plants are getting along which I’ve been growing all year and which are going to form the ingredients for our Witches’ Flying Ointment which we will be making in the next episode in December. 

Belladonna flower in August, with thistledown

Deadly Nightshade (Belladonna atropica)

Active ingredients: Tropane alkaloids such as hyoscyamine, atropine and scopolamine

Desired effects: Nerve blocking effects including numbness and paralysis, sedation, drying up of secretions such as mucus or saliva, altered states of consciousness

Undesired effects: Hallucinations; death due to respiratory muscle paralysis and/or cardiac arrhythmias (Deadly Nightshade does what it says on the tin).

Despite its fearsome reputation as one of the most toxic plants in the UK, Belladonna is surprisingly delicate and hard to cultivate, particularly in cool, wet and windy climates like the Isle of Man.  It is particularly vulnerable to root rot, slug and snail attack and wind damage.  I started by over-wintering the roots in pots of damp playpit sand, working on the theory that if this is a good way to preserve carrots through the winter and stop them from rotting, it might also work for Belladonna.

Belladonna roots overwintering in playpit sand

And this turned out to be a good call, because here are the roots in March, liberated from their pots of sand, sprouting and raring to go:

Belladonna roots in March

Here are the Belladonna plants in May, looking green and healthy:

Belladonna plants in May

For the last two months I’ve been growing them in pots in a cold frame, in a mixture of compost and garden lime.  Their natural habitat is chalky downland in the south of England, so I’ve tried to imitate that as closely as I can.  But now it’s time to plant them out, so I’ve dug four holes in the ground, and filled the holes with the same lime / compost mixture I used in the pots.  I’m protecting them from slugs and snails with copper slug bands, and protecting them from wind by putting old tyres around them.

Here are the same plants in June, and they are starting to outgrow their tyres.  So what to do?  No problem – just put more tyres on, like so:

Belladonna plants in June

But suppose you have some friends visiting your garden, and you don’t want to get into a discussion about why you are growing poisonous plants and trying make them into home-made anaesthetics, in case your friends think you’re weird.  What to do now?  Why, the answer is very simple, just pile on some more tyres, like so:

Belladonna plants in July

Et voila!  Those embarrassing Belladonna plants have now disappeared completely, and all that’s left is a stack of old tyres in what looks like a rather weedy and neglected corner of the garden.  Nothing to see here folks; move along.  Old tyres are under-appreciated as a garden construction material and all-purpose disguise.

Here is a fully grown Belladonna plant in September, tyres off, with a crop of shiny black berries.  Note the copper slug ring which is still around the base.

Belladonna plant in September

Monkshood flower in August

Monkshood / Wolfsbane (Aconitum napellus)

Active ingredients: Aconitum alkaloids, principally aconitine

Desired effects: Nerve blocking effects including numbness and paralysis  

Undesired effects: Death due to respiratory muscle paralysis and/or cardiac arrhythmias

The common names of this plant derive from the appearance of its flower (like an old-fashioned monk’s hood) and its use in former times to make poison-tipped arrows which paralysed prey such as wolves.  A perennial which re-grows year after year from its roots, it’s an easy plant to grow and is sometimes used as an ornamental plant in gardens, although best avoided where children are present.

Henbane flowers in June

Henbane seed pods in August

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger)

Active ingredients, desired effects, undesired effects: similar to Belladonna

An annual which must be grown from seed every year.  Can be grown fairly easily in cool climates but doesn’t like wind.  

Jimsonweed plants in August 2022

Jimsonweed / Thornapple (Datura stramonium)

Active ingredients, desired effects, undesired effects: similar to Belladonna

Jimsonweed is a shortened version of “Jamestown weed”.  Legend has it that a troop of English soldiers was camped near Jamestown, Virginia in the 1600s.  They ate some of the leaves and suffered hallucinations for several days.  Its other common name, Thornapple, refers to the appearance of the plant’s unusual spiky fruits.

Jimsonweed is a subtropical plant which can be hard to grow in cool climates.  The seeds will not germinate until the temperature is consistently at or above 20 degrees Celsius.  Normally I start them off in spring indoors at room temperature, but I didn’t have time to do that this year so I left them outside to germinate in a cold frame.  They eventually germinated around midsummer, but by that time the growing season was drawing to a close and they never progressed much beyond the seedling stage.  Here are the plants I grew this year, which look tiny and pathetic compared to the 2022 plants, above:

Jimsonweed plants this August

Finally, a word about preserving plant material.  Using fresh ingredients is always best if they are available, but there are long periods of the year when fresh ingredients are not available so you have to preserve them.  I have set up a drying shed for this purpose.  It’s a rather rickety shed-like structure with gaps in the walls and no door, left to me by the previous allotment holder.  Useless for normal shed-like purposes like storing tools, but excellent for drying.  I have screwed rows of hooks into the underside of the shed roof, from which I can hang mesh bags full of leaves to dry.  If you live in the UK, the mesh bags can be obtained from the vegetable section of Tesco; if you live anywhere else you’ll have to make your own arrangements.

Mesh bags hanging from hooks

Also, if you are making an infusion of herbs in oil (as we will see in the next instalment) the plant material must be completely dry before you start.  Putting wet plant material in oil will probably not work; it may spoil, or grow harmful bacteria like botulinum, or not infuse properly because oil and water don’t mix. 

One problem I’ve found is that not all leaves dry the same.  Monkshood leaves dry just fine in the mesh bags in the drying shed, and then I bring them indoors after a week or two to finish drying at room temperature.  Belladonna leaves, on the other hand, just form a soggy clump at the bottom of the bag and don’t dry however long I leave them in the drying shed.  I’m not really sure why this is; maybe it’s because the leaves contain more moisture, or they are thicker, or they contain oils and waxes which trap the water.  Whatever the reason, I’ve had to try alternative drying methods, and one method which works well is the microwave method.  Spread the leaves out on a microwaveable plate and microwave them on the lowest possible setting for short bursts of 1-5 minutes at a time until you get the hang of it.  The exact drying time depends on how many leaves you are trying to dry and what their moisture content is.  When they are almost, but not quite, crispy dry, hand them in a mesh bag at room temperature to finish drying.  I do this to avoid burning them.  Then when they are completely dry, store them in airtight preserving jars until they are needed, labelled with the contents and date.

Dried herbs in preserving jars

Preserving berries is harder than preserving leaves because of their higher moisture content.  It’s best to blanch them first, which splits the skins and kills harmful bacteria and moulds on the surface.  You can blanch them by dipping them in boiling water for 30 seconds then dipping them in ice cold water to cool them off.  Then dehydrate them using a microwave (as above) or a fan oven on low heat (you will have to run this for several hours).

In my next post in December, I’m going to talk about using these dried materials to make ointments for medicinal use.

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