Physochlaina Capitata

''Physochlaina'' is a small genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, found principally in the north-western provinces of China (and regions adjoining these in the Himalaya and Central Asia) although one species occurs in Western Asia, while others occur in Siberia, Mongolia and the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. Some sources maintain that the widespread species ''P. physaloides'' is found also in Japan, but the species is not recorded as being native in one of the few English-language floras of the country. The genus has medicinal value, being rich in tropane alkaloids, and is also of ornamental value, three species having been grown for ornament, although hitherto infrequently outside botanical gardens. Furthermore, the genus contains a species (''P. physaloides'' – recorded in older literature under the synonyms ''Hyoscyamus physalodes'', ''Hyoscyamus physaloides'' and ''Scopolia physaloides'') formerly used as an entheogen in Siberia (re. which see translation of Gmelin's account of such use below).

Derivation of genus name

The name ''Physochlaina'' is a compound of the Greek words φυσα (''phusa''), 'bladder' / 'bubble' / 'inflated thing' and χλαινα ( ''chlaina'' ), 'robe' / 'loose outer garment' / 'cloak' / 'wrapper' – giving the meaning 'clad loosely in a puffed-up bladder' – in reference to the calyces of the plants, which become enlarged and sometimes bladder-like in fruit – like those of the much better known Solanaceous genera Physalis, Withania and Nicandra, from which they differ in enclosing, not berries, but box-like pyxidial capsules, like those of Hyoscyamus (see below). The variant spelling ''Physochlaena'' – as employed by Professor Eva Schönbeck-Temesy in her section on the Solanaceae for ''Flora Iranica'' – appears first on page 737 of Volume 22 of the German-language journal ''Linnaea'' for the year 1849.

Publication of genus name

The genus name ''Physochlaina'' was first published in 1838 by Scottish botanist George Don ( great-uncle of Monty Don ) on page 470 of volume IV of his four-volume work ''A General System of Gardening and Botany'', often referred to as ''Gen. Hist.'' (an abbreviation of the alternative title ''A General History of the Dichlamydeous Plants'') and written between 1832 and 1838. He included in his new genus the two species hitherto known as ''Hyoscyamus physaloides'' L. and ''Hyoscyamus orientalis'' M. Bieb. – the latter published by Baron Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein in his ''Flora taurico-caucasica'' of 1808.

Common names

Not being native to Western Europe, plants belonging to the genus ''Physochlaina'' have no common name of any antiquity in English, nor have they acquired a more recent common name among English-speaking gardeners, despite the passage of two centuries since their introduction to cultivation in the U.K.

Robert Sweet coined the English name ''Oriental Henbane'' for ''P. orientalis'' in his work ''The British Flower Garden'' in 1823, but this is simply a translation of the ( now obsolete ) name ''Hyoscyamus orientalis''. He further coins the name ''Purple-flowered Henbane'' for the Siberian species ''P. physaloides'', but this adds to the confusion, as, not only is the species in question no longer classified as a Henbane ( i.e. ''Hyoscyamus'' ), but there are also a number of ( true ) ''Hyoscyamus'' spp. which bear purple flowers – e.g. Hyoscyamus muticus.

There is, however, a common name (age unknown) for ''Physochlaina'' in Russian, namely Пузырница (''Puzeernitsa'') – 'bladder / bubble plant', qualified Пузырница Физалисовая (''Puzeernitsa Phizalisovaya'') – ''Physalis-like Bladder plant'' in the case of ''P. physaloides ''. The Swedish common name for the genus – ''Vårbolmört'' – translates as 'Spring(-flowering) Henbane', while the Finnish common name ''Kievarinyrtti'' means 'Inn Herb' and the Estonian common name is ''Ida-vullrohu'', meaning 'Eastern Henbane'.

In Turkey, where the species ''Physochlaina orientalis'' is native to the region abutting the easternmost stretch of Turkey's Black Sea coast, the common name given to the plant is ''Taş Banotu'', meaning ''Stone Henbane'' i.e. "the henbane that grows on/out of, stone" in reference to the plant's ability to thrive in rock crevices ee section below on ''P. orientalis'' with accompanying image of wild specimen growing in crevices in volcanic rock The late Professor Turhan Baytop lists the Turkish common name ''Yalancı Banotu'' (= "False Henbane") for the plant in his 1963 work on the medicinal and poisonous plants of Turkey. He does not, however, record any information concerning any medicinal properties attributed to ''Physochlaina orientalis'' or folk medicinal uses of it made in Turkey. While Baytop includes a brief mention of the plant in the section "List of the Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Turkey" under the family heading "Solanaceae", he does not include it in the section which constitutes the bulk of his work - namely "Principal Medicinal Plants of Turkey" - this in marked contrast to his substantial treatment of the related genus ''Hyoscyamus''.
The list entry for ''P. orientalis'' reads simply " * Physoclaina ic.orientalis (M.B.) G.Don. - ''Yalancı Banotu'': Gümüşhane