Difference between revisions of "Datura"

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Datura (Arabic name). Syn. Brugmansia. Solanaceae. Thorn-apple. Several large plants cultivated for their huge trumpet-like flowers, which have an odor that is very pleasant to some persons.
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Annual or perennial herbs, shrubs, and trees: lvs. large, entire or wavy-toothed: fls. large, solitary, erect or pendulous, mostly white, with more or less violet, rarely red or yellow; calyx 5-toqthed, sometimes breaking apart near the base or splitting lengthwise: corolla trumpet-shaped, with spreading 5-10-toothed limb; stamens 5, all perfect, slightly or not at all exserted, the filaments slender; style long, the stigma 2-lobed: fr. a large 2-celled caps., mostly prickly or spiny, usually dry and 4-valved at top but sometimes fleshy and bursting irregularly, with large seeds.— Some 15 species, mostly strong-smelling, in the warmer parts of the globe, some of them weeds.
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A few daturas are grown as flower-garden subjects, or the shrubby kinds under glass or as tub specimens. The most popular kind in northern gardens is commonly called D. cornucopia (Fig. 1227), which is especially interesting when its flowers develop two or three well-defined trumpets, one within another. Sometimes, however, these double flowers are a confused mass of petalage. Double and triple forms are likely to occur in any of the species described below. The horn-of-plenty has been especially popular in America since about 1895, when it was found in South America by an orchid collector of the United States Nursery Company, and soon became widely distributed in "yellow, white, blue and deep carmine," all double forms. Daturas contain strong narcotics. Large doses are poisonous, small doses medicinal. Separate preparations of Stramonium seed and leaves are commonly sold in the drugstores. D. Stramonium (Fig. 1228) is the thorn-apple or Jamestown weed, the latter name being corrupted into jimson weed. Its foul, rank herbage and large spiny fruits are often seen in rubbish heaps. At the first successful settlement in America— Jamestown, Virginia, 1607—it is said that the men ate these thorn-apples with curious results. Capt. John Smith's account of their mad antics is very entertaining. It has been conjectured that this same plant was used by the priests at Delphi to produce oracular ravings. The seeds of D. sanguinea are said to have been used by Peruvian priests that were believed to have prophetic power.
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Daturas are of easy culture. Some are treated as tender annuals. In the North the woody species can be grown outdoors in summer, and stored in cellars during the winter; in the South and in southern California they are almost everblooming. They are sometimes kept in cool conservatories the year round, in which case they should be planted in the border, as they rarely flower well in pots, their roots being large and spreading and requiring a constant supply of moisture. This method produces great quantities of bloom in spring. After flowering, the plants should be cut in to the main limbs.
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Weedy annual species of Datura, intro. from the tropics or warm countries and run free in this country, are: D. Mitel, Linn. Pubescent: lvs. entire or slightly toothed: calyx tubular; corolla- limb) 10-lobed, 4 in. across: caps, nodding, prickly: 3-5 ft.: fls. white.—D. Stramonium, Linn. Fig. 1228. The common stramonium or jimson-weed: glabrous, green-stemmed: lvs. ovate, sinuate or angled or even cut-toothed: caps erect, with stout prickles: 24 ft.: fls. white. A very similar species but with a smooth and spineless caps, is D. inermis, Jacq.—D. Tatula, Linn. Differs from C. Stramonium in having purple sts., and violet-purple or lavender fls., and prickles of the caps, more nearly equal.
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Other daturas more or less cult. abroad are: D. ceratocaula, Ort. Annual, 2 ft.: branches horn-shaped: lvs. broad-lanceolate: fls. very large, inside white or light violet, outside bluish, opening late in afternoon till middle of forenoon: fr. hanging, smooth. Trop. Amer. B.M. 3352.—D. coccinea, Hort.=D. De Noteri.— —D. colossea aurea, Hort. Garden hybrid, parentage not reported, with bright golden yellow fls.—D. De Noteri, Hort. Probably annual: 3 ft.: fls. fragrant, brilliant red, freely produced. S. Afr.— D. ferox. Linn. St. thick, glabrous, red at base but otherwise green- or white-punctate: lvs. rhombic-ovate, angled-toothed: calyx 5- angled and about 5-parted; corolla light blue, the limb angulate: fr. unequally spiny, with 4 large spines at top. S. Eu.—D. quercifolia. HBK. Annual, with green sts., the young growth somewhat pubescent: lvs. deeply sinuate-pinnatind.: fls. as in D. Tatula: caps, bearing large and unequal flattened prickles that are sometimes ½ in. long. Mex. Wilhelm Miller. L. H. B.
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Latest revision as of 10:29, 29 August 2009


Read about Datura in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

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The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.


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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