Datura (Jimson Weed) at Cordova Lake, Ontario

Straight out of the camera

From my set entitled “Best Garden Photos”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607344677906/
In my collection entitled “The Garden”
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura

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,[citation needed] 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,[citation needed] 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[clarify] throughout India and most of Australia.[citation needed] According to the old ayurvedic medicinal system (at least since 2000 BC) in India,[citation needed] this plant has versatile uses in medicinal preparations.

Datura is a genus of woody-stalked, leafy annuals and short-lived perennials which can reach up to 2 meters in height. The plants produce spiney seed pods and large white or purple trumpet-shaped flowers. Most parts of the plants contain atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Datura has a long history of use both in S. America and Europe and is known for causing delirious states and poisonings in uninformed users. 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 like those of the closely allied Brugmansiae), trumpet-shaped, 5-20 cm long and 4-12 cm broad at the mouth; colours vary 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.

Common names include Jimson Weed, Moonflower, Hell's Bells, Devil's Weed, Devil's Cucumber, Thorn-Apple (from the spiny fruit), Pricklyburr (similarly), 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). This Hindi word is derived from Sanskrit vedic literature dating back to long before 2000 BC.

Datura species are food plants for the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species including Hypercompe indecisa.

Datura contains the alkaloids scopolamine and atropine and has been used in some cultures as a poison and hallucinogen.[1]

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.[2]

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.

Chaitanya Charitamrita, a 16th century biography of the saint Caitanya who was known for his fervent religious ecstasies, describes an incident (2.18.165, 183) where Muslim soldiers, unable to comprehend his state of trance, apprehend four of his companions on suspicion of their poisoning him with dhuturā with an aim to loot his possessions. Upon regaining consciousness, Caitanya attributes his trance episode to epilepsy.

Due to the potent combination of anticholinergic substances it contains, Datura intoxication typically produces effects similar to that of an anticholinergic delirium: a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy (frank delirium, as contrasted to hallucination); anticholinergic; bizarre, and possibly violent behavior; and severe mydriasis with resultant painful photophobia that can last several days. Pronounced amnesia is another commonly reported effect.

According to the drug information site Erowid, no other substance has received as many "Train Wreck" severely negative experience reports as has Datura[3], noting that "the overwhelming majority of those who describe to us their use of Datura (and to a lesser extent, Belladonna, Brugmansia and Brunfelsia) find their experiences extremely mentally and physically unpleasant and not infrequently physically dangerous."

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Taken on: August 6, 2008

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