Difference between revisions of "Datura"

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[[Image:Datura fruit.jpg|thumb|200px|Fruit]]
 
[[Image:Datura fruit.jpg|thumb|200px|Fruit]]
 
[[Image:Datura innoxia fruit split open.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''D. inoxia'' with ripe, split-open fruit]]
 
[[Image:Datura innoxia fruit split open.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''D. inoxia'' with ripe, split-open fruit]]
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Datura contains the alkaloids [[scopolamine]] and [[atropine]] and has long been used as a [[poison]] and [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogen]]. The [[dose-response curve]] for the combination of alkaloids is ''very'' steep, so people who consume datura can easily take a potentially [[death|fatal]] [[overdose]], hence its use as a poison. In the [[1990s]] and [[2000s]], the United States media contained stories of [[adolescent]]s and young adults dying or becoming seriously ill from intentionally ingestin
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Datura contains the alkaloids [[scopolamine]] and [[atropine]] and has long been used as a [[poison]] and [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogen]]. The [[dose-response curve]] for the combination of alkaloids is ''very'' steep, so people who consume datura can easily take a potentially [[death|fatal]] [[overdose]], hence its use as a poison. In the [[1990s]] and [[2000s]], the United States media contained stories of [[adolescent]]s and young adults dying or becoming seriously ill from intentionally ingesting datura.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5233a2.htm |title = Suspected Moonflower Intoxication (Ohio, 2002)| accessdate = September 30| accessyear = 2006| publisher = [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]]| format = HTML}}</ref>
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g datura.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5233a2.htm |title = Suspected Moonflower Intoxication (Ohio, 2002)| accessdate = September 30| accessyear = 2006| publisher = [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]]| format = HTML}}</ref>
 
  
 
===Records of use===
 
===Records of use===
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The effects of Datura can be extreme, leading to a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy. Many experience accounts can be found at [http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Datura.shtml www.erowid.org].
 
The effects of Datura can be extreme, leading to a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy. Many experience accounts can be found at [http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Datura.shtml www.erowid.org].
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==Cultural references==
 
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===In literature===
 
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Martin Cruz Smith's novel,"Nightwing" gives an excellent, if fictional account of datura usage and Hopi folklore surrounding same.
 
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[[Image:SacredDaturaFx Wb2.jpg|thumb|right|The distinctive datura flower]]
 
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*[[Stephen King]]'s [[Gunslinger]] from the Dark Tower series, Book 1
 
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* [[Jean M. Auel]] described use of datura in her ''[[Earth's Children]]'' series: In ''"[[The Clan of the Cave Bear]]"'', the clan share a retrocognitive vision under influence of datura. In ''[[The Plains of Passage]]'' Ayla uses datura as an [[analgesic]] and [[sedative]].
 
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* In [[Paul Theroux]]'s 2005 novel ''[[Blinding Light]]'', a writer becomes addicted to a rare species of datura. Under its influence he is blind, but inspired, transcendently aware, and megalomaniacal.
 
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* Datura is the plant given to pacify the mentally handicapped brother in [[William Faulkner]]'s ''[[The Sound and the Fury]]''.
 
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* Datura is explained in [[Wade Davis]]'s ''[[The Serpent and the Rainbow]]'' to be a critically important hallucinogen in a series of toxins and cultural practices that produce [[zombie]]s, administered at the time of retrieval from the grave as an antidote to previously administered [[tetrodotoxin]].
 
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* The use of datura as a poison is mentioned in the novel ''[[The Eiger Sanction]]'' by [[Trevanian]].
 
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* Datura is the name of the antagonist in the novel "[[Forever Odd]]" by [[Dean Koontz]]
 
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* Datura is also the name of a fictional chemical in [[Ryu Murakami]]'s surreal 1980 novel [[Coin Locker Babies]].  It's a gas that, when ingested,  completely destroys a person's self-control and restraint, resulting in "a form of criminal psychosis [and] the creation of an irreversibly destructive personality" without remorse.<ref>Murakami, Ryu. ''[[Coin Locker Babies]]''. Kodansha Intl. Ltd. (English trans., 1995), p.118</ref>
 
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* Datura is a key [[entheogen]] in ''[[The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge]]'' by [[Carlos Castaneda]]
 
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* In the novel ''The Sundial'' by [[Maarten 't Hart]], datura is used twice as a poison.
 
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* ''[[Cape Cod (essay)|Cape Cod]]'' by [[Thoreau]] contains a quote from Beverly's ''History of Virginia'' describing the effects of datura usage.
 
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*Also in the autobiographical novel "Jesus Weed" by Gerald Taylor.
 
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*In [[Hunter S. Thompson]]'s ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'', Dr. Gonzo refers to a time he got sick from eating a large quantity of Jimson weed (in the section "A Terrible Experience with Extremely Dangerou
 
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s Drugs").
 
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*Datura is featured as the central MacGuffin employed by the evil [[Knights of the Golden Circle]] in the graphic novel "Batman: Detective No. 27" by [[Michael Uslan]] and [[Peter Snejbjerg]] and published by [[DC Comics]] in 2003.
 
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*Datura as a psychoactive substance is featured in [[Leena Krohn]]'s novel that has the Finnish name ''Datura tai harha jonka jokainen näkee''; the novel has been translated at least to [[German language|German]], under the name ''Stechapfel''.
 
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===In music===
 
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* Singer/songwriter [[Tori Amos]] penned a [[trance music|trance]] song entitled "Datura" for her 1999 album "[[To Venus and Back]]". The song features Amos reading a list of various plants that are growing in her garden over hypnotic [[piano]] and rhythms.  She consistently mentions datura within the list, as if to indicate it is overgrowing and destroying her garden. The flower, in the song, is used as a metaphor for destructive relationships.<ref>''Attitude'' (UK) - November 1999</ref>
 
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* In the opera [[Lakmé]] by [[Léo Delibes]], Lakmé dies after eating datura leaves.
 
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* ''[http://www.datura.it/ Datura]'' is also the name of an Italian [[Techno music|techno]]/trance group formed [[1991]] in [[Bologna]] by the musicians [[Ciro Pagano]] and [[Stefano Mazzavillani]] and the DJs Ricci & Cirillo. One of their biggest hit singles ''[http://www.discogs.com/release/85735 Yerba Del Diablo]'' ("Devil's weed") also pays reference to the plant.
 
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*The band [[Murder By Death]] mentions datura in their song "Killbot 2000" from their album "Who Will Survive and What Will be Left of Them."
 
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*The [[psychedelic rock]] band [[Bardo Pond]] named a song "Datura" in his album "Set and Setting". Many other Bardo Pond album and song titles have been derived from the names of esoteric psychedelic substances.
 
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* The guitarist [[Buckethead]] named a song "Datura" in his album "Electric Tears".
 
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*Icelandic hard rock/stoner band takes its name from this plant(spelling it in Hindi, though "[[Dhaturah]]"), claiming that the plant has influenced its songwriting. In the song "The Devil is a Nice Guy" the singer/actor/keyboardist Kjartan describes his experience when he was strung out on [[Devil's weed]] and spent two days in the Icelandic Kárahnjúkar writing songs and chatting with the devil"
 
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* The Australian [[psychedelic rock]] band [[Grey Daturas]] takes its name from the plant.
 
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* The band [http://www.myspace.com/ddm/ Dane and the Death Machine's] album [http://www.myspace.com/DDMThanatron/ Thanatron] has a track entitled "Datura".
 
  
 
===In film===
 
===In film===
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* In the movie [[XXX (movie)|XXX]] the darts used to knock out Xander ([[Vin Diesel]]) and that he later uses to appear to kill an undercover policeman are referred to as 'Datura knockout darts' by their creator.
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<gallery>
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Image:Datura blossom (large)-9682.jpg
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Image:Flower of Tenerife- Datura-6260.jpg
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Image:Datura-1383.jpg
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Image:Datura-1190.jpg
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Image:Angel trumpet (Hindu datura) in the garden-2788.jpg
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Image:Jimsonweed-8622.jpg
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</gallery>
  
 
==Notes and references==
 
==Notes and references==

Revision as of 05:54, 28 November 2008

Datura
Datura stramonium
Datura stramonium
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Datura
L.

Species
See text below

Datura is a genus of 12-15 species of vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae. Their exact natural distribution is uncertain, due to extensive cultivation and naturalization throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe, but is most likely restricted to the Americas, from the United States south through Mexico (where the highest species diversity occurs) to the mid-latitudes of South America. Some species are reported by some authorities to be native to China, but this is not accepted by the Flora of China, where the three species present are treated as introductions from the Americas. (It also grows naturally throughout most of Australia).

Common names include jimson weed, Hell's Bells, Devil's weed, Devil's cucumber, thorn-apple (from the spiny fruit), pricklyburr (similarly), and somewhat paradoxically, both angel's trumpet and devil's trumpet (from their large trumpet-shaped flowers), or as Nathaniel Hawthorne refers to it in the the Scarlet Letter apple-peru. The word Datura comes from Hindi dhatūrā (thorn apple); record of this name dates back only to 1662 (OED).

They are large, vigorous annual plants or short-lived perennial plants, growing to 1-3 m tall. The leaves are alternate, 10-20 cm long and 5-18 cm broad, with a lobed or toothed margin. The flowers are erect or spreading (not pendulous), trumpet-shaped, 5-20 cm long and 4-12 cm broad at the mouth; color varies from white to yellow, pink, and pale purple. The fruit is a spiny capsule 4-10 cm long and 2-6 cm broad, splitting open when ripe to release the numerous seeds.

Datura species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Hypercompe indecisa.

Species

Some species formerly included in Datura are now classified in the separate genus Brugmansia; this genus differs in being woody, making shrubs or small trees, and in having pendulous flowers. Other related genera include Hyoscyamus and Atropa.

Cultivation and uses

Fruit
D. inoxia with ripe, split-open fruit

Datura contains the alkaloids scopolamine and atropine and has long been used as a poison and hallucinogen. The dose-response curve for the combination of alkaloids is very steep, so people who consume datura can easily take a potentially fatal overdose, hence its use as a poison. In the 1990s and 2000s, the United States media contained stories of adolescents and young adults dying or becoming seriously ill from intentionally ingesting datura.[1]

Records of use

Datura stramonium is also called jimsonweed. This name comes from the town of Jamestown, Virginia. Various versions of the story exist, but in the most common version, British soldiers sent to quell Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 were accidentally served this unfamiliar plant as food, causing many to be incapacitated for 11 days. Datura wrightii, also called sacred datura or western jimsonweed, has similar effects.

Perhaps the most famous account of jimsonweed intoxication is given in The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda. The narrator records several experiences with the subtly addictive "devil's weed", which his mentor describes as having power similar to that of a woman:

“ She is as powerful as the best of allies, but there is something I personally don't like about her. She distorts men. She gives them a taste of power too soon without fortifying their hearts and makes them domineering and unpredictable. She makes them weak in the middle of their great power. ”

The effects of Datura can be extreme, leading to a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy. Many experience accounts can be found at www.erowid.org.

In film

  • Datura blossom (large)-9682.jpg
  • Flower of Tenerife- Datura-6260.jpg
  • Datura-1383.jpg
  • Datura-1190.jpg
  • Angel trumpet (Hindu datura) in the garden-2788.jpg
  • Jimsonweed-8622.jpg

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Suspected Moonflower Intoxication (Ohio, 2002)" (HTML). CDC. Retrieved on September 30, 2006.

External links

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