Solanum nigrum
Black nightshade
This Saturn plant favors borders between what is cultivated and what is wild just as Hekate knew the border between the dead and living well enough to lead Persephone from the Underworld back to the world of light and her mother, Demeter.  Like its relatives (belladonna, mandrake, henbane, datura, scopolia), this herb is often involved in lunar magick or works related to death and is an herb of ritual magick. In traditional witchcraft, it is employed in rain magic. 

This magick herb contains solanine, a cardiac poison, the same stuff in tomato leaves and in green skins of potatoes. The unripe fruits are the most poisonous part, and the ripe berries are the least so.  The amount of this alkaloid can be variable, and different people react differently to it.  Maoris eat the leaves of this plant like spinach, and the ripe berries are made into jam in various cultures.  Boiling destroys solanine, but baking does not.  At one time, the leaves were applied as a poultice to cause sedation and relieve pain, and they are made into an ointment used on cold sores. Despite Grieves' claim that this plant has atropine, it does not.  Likewise, black nightshade is not another name for henbane, although these two plants are cousins.  Culpeper says if you cannot tell the difference between black nightshade and deadly nightshade, don't use either. This baneful herb is also known as morel, black morel, petty morel, yerba mora, L'Homme, West Indian, common, and garden nightshade. Top

How to grow it: Soak in cold water for two weeks, changing the water with fresh cold water daily (keep in a bottle in the fridge).  An old vitamin bottle works well.  This helps to leach out germination inhibitors in the seed coat. Then sow in kelp-soaked Jiffy-7 and keep between 68-95 F (20-30C).  Or sow on Winter Solstice (see the Solstice Sowing page). It typically germinates May through September.  It gets 1-3 feet tall. This annual plant will grow almost anywhere, even on high mountains. General growing info Top

Go to the dried herb

Uses in Witchcraft & Magick:

Honoring Hekate
Lunar Magick
Honoring the Dead
Ritual Magick
Saturn Herb

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