Please, I am seeking any information of any known locations were Hyoscyamus niger "Henbane" & Atropa Belladonna "Deadly Nightshade" have been seen growing in the Hampshire, Sussex area in the past 4 years.
For the past two years i have been trying to locate and document areas in which these rare and elusive plants are growing. The purpose was originaly to aquire a specimin of Henbane and Belladonna for something i was doing in college, but it soon turned into a nightmare hunt and in the end a fruitless one at that. During my seeking of these herbs i ended up doing a lot of research into them and their past and i found this facinating. Last year was my second year of seeking these plants and i decided that i would explore further afield from southern hampshire and start exploring location in sussex. I used the National Biodiversity Network and the internet for help in locating known areas and eventualy i struck luck - i found myself traveling all the way to Rye harbour in East Sussex were i found my first henbane plant. I proceeded to look for location were i might find it growing closer to home and eventualy found information of it growing just outside Seaford - also in East Sussex. When i got to this location the first solanacea i come across was a large bush of deadly nightshade infact this location was swarming with the stuff and belladonna was the predominant plant there, i counted in excess of 40 bushes of various sizes and stages of growth. This find was a pleasent supprise as there had been no mentioning of it growing there, and i had also been finding i was gradualy concentrating more in locating Henbane rather then Belladonna so to find so much belladonna was a bonus. At first i had only found one small Henbane plant and several Henbane rosettes' along with the Belladonna but then i went over to the other side of the hill and found 30-40 second year plants and many more first year plants. I collected some seeds from the mature plants.
With the seeds i collected i sowed them on an isolated stretch of scrub land local to me and in annother area that it had been documented as once growing there. Unfortunatly spring warmth has been reluctant show itself this year and the seeds have yet to germanate. I hope within the next 4-6 weeks i will be able to start looking for more location to were it might be growing, but due to the nature of henbane in perticular the hunt i suspect is going to be a pain. I am aware of it growing on the IOW but due to the poor public transport system and the cost's of the ferry i left it out last year.
So again i would be grateful if anybody has information they are willing to share on either of these two plants in these areas. I must stress that my purpose of locating these is purley for a hobby/ personal interest/ and to photograph.
Ian
