The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
n. A poisonous Eurasian plant (Hyoscyamus niger) having an unpleasant odor, sticky leaves, and funnel-shaped greenish-yellow flowers. It is a source of the drug hyoscyamine.
n. A poisonous plant, Hyoscyamus niger, used sometimes as a drug that causes at least hallucinations, dilated pupils, restlessness, and flushed skin.
n. Any other plant of the genus Hyoscyamus.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. A plant of the genus Hyoscyamus (Hyoscyamus niger). All parts of the plant are poisonous, and the leaves are used for the same purposes as belladonna. It is poisonous to domestic fowls; whence the name. Called also, stinking nightshade, from the fetid odor of the plant. See hyoscyamus.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. A plant of the genus Hyoscyamus, natural order Solanaceæ.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. poisonous fetid Old World herb having sticky hairy leaves and yellow-brown flowers; yields hyoscyamine and scopolamine
Word Usage
"Celebrity (their word, he means nothing to me) chef Antony Worrall Thompsonis quoted in a magazine interview about watercress and other wild foods saying that the weed henbane is "great in salads"."