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Datura is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine- 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 Hindi and Sanskrit words 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 2 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, and the genus 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 as by some Native American groups.Cecilia Garcia; James D. Adams (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 present in some species have long been considered traditional medicines in both the New World and 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.
The term "Jimsonweed" is said to come from the United States colony Jamestown. In Jamestown datura was common, and was referred to as "Jamestown-Weed" by one Virginia, Robert Beverley. This then turned into the term "Jimsonweed".
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. pps. 261-4.
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. The Caterpillar 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.
A group of South American species formerly placed in the genus Datura are now placed in the distinct genus Brugmansia (1991). 9780947643317, Royal Botanic Gardens. ISBN 9780947643317 ( Brugmansia differs from Datura in that it is woody (the species being or small ) 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 9 species of Datura, but Kew's Plants of the World Online currently lists the following 14 (out of which the current edition of The Plant List does not list D. arenicola, D. lanosa, and D. pruinosa as accepted spp.):
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.
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).'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. . Republished as:
D. arenicola is a remarkable new species, described only in 2013, of very restricted range, and so distinctive as to have merited the creation for it of the new section Discola not within the genus. The specific name arenicola means "loving (i.e. "thriving in") sand".
| Baja California Sur, Mexico |
| Mexico. |
| Sonoran Desert of western North America |
| southeastern China (disputed) |
| Southwestern United States, Central and South America (cosmopolitan weed) |
| from Mexico to Guatemala |
| Asia, Africa (disputed) |
| Mexico and the Southwestern United States |
| Central America (cosmopolitan weed) |
| 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.
In traditional cultures, a great deal of experience with and detailed knowledge of Datura was critical to minimize harm. Many tragic incidents result from modern users ingesting or smoking Datura. For example, in the 1990s and 2000s, the United States media reported stories of and young adults dying or becoming seriously ill from intentionally ingesting Datura. Deliberate or inadvertent poisoning resulting from smoking jimsonweed and other related species has been reported as well. Although most poisonings occur with more common species of Datura such as D. stramonium, several reports in the medical literature indicate deaths from D. ferox intoxication. Children are especially vulnerable to atropine poisoning. In some parts of Europe and India, Datura has been a popular poison for suicide and murder. From 1950 to 1965, the State Chemical Laboratories in Agra, India, investigated 2,778 deaths caused by ingesting Datura. A group called Thuggee (practicers of thuggee) were reportedly devotees of an Indian religious cult made up of robbers and assassins who strangled or poisoned their victims in devoted to the Hindu goddess Kali. They were alleged to employ Datura in many such poisonings, using it also to induce drowsiness or stupefaction, making strangulation easier.Mike Dash Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult , 2005
Datura toxins may be ingested accidentally by consumption of honey produced by several wasp species, including Brachygastra lecheguana, during the Datura blooming season. These semi-domesticated apparently collect Datura nectar for honey production, which can lead to poisoning.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported accidental poisoning resulting in hospitalization for a family of six who inadvertently ingested Datura used as an ingredient in stew.
In some places around the world, such as India due to the Drug & Cosmetic Act 1940 & Rule 1995, buying, selling, or cultivating Datura plants is prohibited. Solanaceous tribes with a similar chemistry (i.e. a similar tropane alkaloid content), include the Hyoscyameae, containing such well-known toxic species as Hyoscyamus niger and Atropa belladonna, the Solandreae containing the genus Solandra ("chalice vines") and the Mandragoreae, named for the famous Mandragora officinarum, most of which are considered traditional witches' herbs and poisons.
Bernardino de Sahagún, in around 1569, called attention to Datura in these words: "It is administered in potions in order to cause harm to those who are objects of hatred. Those who eat it have visions of fearful things. Magicians or those who wish to harm someone administer it in food or drink. This herb is medicinal and its seed is used as a remedy for gout, ground up and applied to the part affected."
Christian Rätsch has said, "A mild dosage produces medicinal and healing effects, a moderate dosage produces aphrodisiac effects, and high dosages are used for shamanic purposes". Wade Davis, an ethnobotanist, also lists it as an essential ingredient of a zombie potion in Haitian Vodou. In Western culture, the same species ( Datura stramonium) has been said to have been commonly used by Witchcraft as an ingredient for their and was regularly included in detailed recipes of magical ointments dating back as far as the early modern period, predominately in New England and Western Europe. During the anti-witchcraft hysteria of colonial times it was considered unlucky or inappropriate to grow D. stramonium in one's garden due to its supposed reputation for aiding in incantations.
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