Datura is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae).1959 Avery, Amos Geer, Satina, Sophie and Rietsema, Jacob Blakeslee: the genus Datura, foreword and biographical sketch by Edmund W. Sinnott, pub. New York : Ronald Press Co. They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's trumpets or mad apple (not to be confused with angel's trumpets, which are placed in the closely related genus Brugmansia). Other English common names include moonflower, devil's weed and hell's bells. All species of Datura are extremely poisonous and psychoactive, especially their seeds and flowers, which can cause respiratory depression, arrhythmias, fever, delirium, hallucinations, anticholinergic toxidrome, psychosis, and death if taken internally.
The name Datura originates from the Sanskrit word for "thorn-apple," with historical and cultural significance in Ayurveda and Hinduism, while the American term "jimsonweed" derives from its prevalence in Jamestown, Virginia, where it was called "Jamestown-Weed." Datura species are herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial plants up to two meters tall with trumpet-shaped flowers and spiny fruit capsules, historically used in traditional medicine, especially in India, where they hold cultural and ritual significance. Datura species classification is complex due to high variability and overlapping traits among species, with many "new species" later reclassified as local varieties or subspecies; most species are native to Mexico, though some have disputed native ranges outside the Americas. Datura is closely related to Brugmansia and the recently established Trompettia.
Due to their effects and symptoms, Datura species have occasionally been used not only as poisons, but also as hallucinogens by various groups throughout history. Traditionally, their psychoactive administration has often been associated with witchcraft and sorcery or similar practices in many cultures, including the Western world.Hansen, Harold A. The Witch's Garden pub. Unity Press 1978 Rätsch, Christian, The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications pub. Park Street Press 2005 Certain common Datura species have also been used ritualistically as entheogens by some Native American groups.Garcia, Cecilia; Adams, James D. (2005). Healing with medicinal plants of the west – cultural and scientific basis for their use. Abedus Press. .
Non-psychoactive use of plants in the genus is usually done for medicinal purposes, and the alkaloids present in some species have long been considered traditional medicines in both the New and Old Worlds due to the presence of the alkaloids scopolamine and atropine, which are also produced by plants associated with Old World medicine such as Hyoscyamus niger, Atropa belladonna and Mandragora officinarum.Schultes, Richard Evans; Hofmann, Albert (1979). The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens (2nd ed.). Springfield Illinois: Charles C. Thomas.
Etymology The generic name Datura is taken from Hindi धतूरा "thorn-apple",American Heritage Dictionary: datura ultimately from Sanskrit धत्तूर "white thorn-apple" (referring to Datura metel of Asia). In the Ayurvedic text Sushruta Samhita, different species of Datura are also referred to as and . Dhatura is offered to Lord Shiva in Hinduism. Record of this name in English dates back to 1662.Oxford English Dictionary Nathaniel Hawthorne refers to one type in The Scarlet Letter as "apple-Peru". In Mexico, its common name is (also spelled ), which derives from the Nahuatl , meaning "the plant with the nodding head" (in reference to the nodding seed capsules of Datura species belonging to section Dutra of the genus).
The term "Jimsonweed" is said to come from the American colony Jamestown. In Jamestown datura was common, and was referred to as "Jamestown-Weed" by one Virginian, Robert Beverley Jr. This then turned into the term "Jimsonweed".
Description Datura species are herbaceous, leafy annuals and short-lived perennials, which can reach up to in height. The leaves are alternate, long, and broad, with a lobed or toothed margin. The flowers are erect or spreading (not pendulous like those of Brugmansia), trumpet-shaped, long, and broad at the mouth; colours vary from white to yellow and pale purple. The fruit is a spiny capsule, long and broad, splitting open when ripe to release the numerous seeds. The seeds disperse freely over pastures, fields and even wasteland locations.
Datura belongs to the classic "witches' weeds", along with deadly nightshade, henbane and mandrake. All parts of the plants are toxic, and the genus has a long history of use for causing delirious states and death. It was well known as an essential ingredient of magical ointments, potions and witches' brews, most notably Datura stramonium.Schultes, Richard Evans; Hofmann, Albert (1979). The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens (2nd ed.). Springfield Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. pp. 261–64.
In India, D. metel has long been regarded as a poison and aphrodisiac, having been used in Ayurveda as a medicine since ancient times. It features in rituals and prayers to Shiva and also in Ganesh Chaturthi, a festival devoted to the deity Ganesha. Republished as: The larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including Hypercompe indecisa, eat some Datura species. It has been observed that while insects may prefer to feed on Datura leaves, other animals such as cows will generally avoid consuming them.
Species and cultivars
Classifying Datura as to its species is difficult, and the descriptions of new species often are accepted prematurely. Later, these "new species" are found to be simply varieties that have evolved due to conditions at a specific location. These new designations usually disappear in a few years. Contributing to the confusion is the fact that various species, such as D. wrightii and D. innoxia, are very similar in appearance, and the variation within a species can be extreme. For example, Datura species can change size of plant, leaf and flowers, all depending on location. The same species, when growing in a half-shady, damp location, can develop into a flowering bush in height, but when growing in a very dry location, will only grow into a thin plant not much more , with tiny flowers and a few miniature leaves. Datura species are native to dry, temperate and subtropical regions. Most species are native to Mexico, which is considered the centre of origin of the genus. Several species are considered to have extra-American native ranges: D. ferox (native to China), D. metel (native to India and Southeast Asia) and D. leichardthii (native to Australia); however, these may be early introductions from Central America.
A group of South American species formerly placed in the genus Datura are now placed in the distinct genus Brugmansia (Brugmansia differs from Datura in that it is woody (the species being shrubs or small trees) and has indehiscent fruits.) The solanaceous tribe Datureae, to which Datura and Brugmansia belong, has recently acquired a new, monotypic genus Trompettia J. Dupin, featuring the species Trompettia cardenasiana, which had hitherto been misclassified as belonging to the genus Iochroma.
Datura specialists Ulrike Preissel and Hans-Georg Preissel accept only nine species of Datura, but Kew's Plants of the World Online lists the following 14 (out of which its related The Plant List does not include D. arenicola, D. lanosa and D. pruinosa as accepted spp.):
Datura arenicola Gentry ex Bye & Luna Datura ceratocaula Ortega Datura discolor Bernh. Datura ferox L. Datura innoxia Mill. Datura kymatocarpa Barclay Datura lanosa A.S.Barclay ex Bye Datura leichhardtii Benth. Datura metel L. Datura pruinosa Greenm. Datura quercifolia Kunth Datura reburra Barclay Datura stramonium L. Datura wrightii Regel
Of the above, D. leichhardtii is close enough to D. pruinosa to merit demotion to a subspecies and likewise D. ferox and D. quercifolia are close enough in morphology to merit being subsumed in a single species. Furthermore, the Australian provenance of D. leichhardtii, the Chinese provenance of D. ferox, and the Afro-Asiatic provenance of D. metel have been cast into serious doubt, with the three species being almost certainly post-Columbian introductions to the regions to which they were originally thought native.'Datura (Solanaceae) is a New World Genus' by D.E. Symon and L. Haegi in (page 197 of) Solanaceae III: Taxonomy Chemistry Evolution, Editors J.G. Hawkes, R.N. Lester, M. Nee, & N. Estrada, published by The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK for The Linnean Society of London 1991. .
The case of D. metel is unique in that not only is the plant not a true species at all, but an assemblage of ancient pre-Columbian cultivars created from D. innoxia in the Greater Antilles, but evidence is mounting that it was introduced to the Indian subcontinent no later than the second century CE—whether by natural or human agency is, as yet, unknown—making it one of the most ancient plant introductions (if not the most ancient) from the New World to the Old World (see Columbian Exchange).
D. arenicola is a recently discovered species, described first in 2013, of very restricted range, and so distinctive as to have merited the creation for it of the new section Discola [not to be confused with the species name D. discolor] within the genus. The specific name arenicola means "loving (i.e. "thriving in") sand".
Image Scientific name Common name Distribution Datura arenicola Gentry ex Bye & Luna Sand thorn-apple, Baja datura, Vizcaíno Desert datura Baja California Sur, Mexico D. ceratocaula Jacq. torna loco, Sister of Ololiuhqui, swamp datura Mexico D. discolor Bernh. (syn. D. kymatocarpa, D. reburra) desert thorn-apple Sonoran Desert of western North America D. ferox L. long-spined thorn-apple southeastern China (disputed) D. innoxia Mill. thorn-apple, downy thorn-apple, Indian-apple, moonflower, toloatzin, toloache Southwestern United States, Central and South America (cosmopolitan weed) D. leichhardtii F.Muell. ex Benth. (syn. D. pruinosa) Leichhardt's datura from Mexico to Guatemala D. metel L. Hindu datura, Indian thorn-apple, devil's trumpet Asia, Africa (disputed) D. quercifolia Kunth oak-leaved thorn-apple Mexico and the Southwestern United States D. stramonium L. (syn. D. inermis, D. bernhardii) jimsonweed, thorn-apple, devil's snare Central America (cosmopolitan weed) D. wrightii Regel sacred datura, western jimsonweed, California jimsonweed, Momoy, sacred thorn-apple, tolguacha, toloache Southwestern United States
American Brugmansia and Datura Society, Inc. (ABADS) is designated in the 2004 edition of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants as the official International Cultivar Registration Authority for Datura. This role was delegated to ABADS by the International Society for Horticultural Science in 2002.
Past classified species D. lanosa D. suaveolens
Cultivation
Datura species are usually sown annually from the seed produced in the spiny capsules, but, with care, the tuberous-rooted perennial species may be overwintered. Most species are suited to being planted outside or in containers. As a rule, they need warm, sunny places and soil that will keep their roots dry. When grown outdoors in good locations, the plants tend to reseed themselves and may become invasive. In containers, they should have porous, aerated potting soil with adequate drainage. The plants are susceptible to fungi in the root area, so anaerobic organic enrichment such as anaerobically composted organic matter or manure, should be avoided.
Toxicity