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Datura innoxia (often spelled inoxia), known as pricklyburr, recurved thorn-apple, downy thorn-apple, Indian-apple, lovache, moonflower, nacazcul, toloatzin, toloaxihuitl, tolguache or toloache, is a species of flowering plant in the family Solanaceae. It is more rarely called sacred datura, a common name which is applied more often to the closely related Datura wrightii. It is native to the Southwestern United States, Central America and South America, and introduced in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. The scientific name is often cited as D. innoxia. When English botanist Philip Miller first described the species in 1768, he misspelled the Latin word innoxia (inoffensive) when naming it D. inoxia. The name Datura meteloides was for some time erroneously applied to some members of the species, but that name has now been abandoned. (2025). 9781552095980, Firefly Books. ISBN 9781552095980
The flowers are white, trumpet-shaped, long. They first grow upright, and later incline downward. It flowers from early summer until late fall.
The fruit is an Oval spiny capsule, about 5 cm in diameter. Like those of other species belonging to section Dutra of the genus Datura, it splits open irregularly when ripe to disperse its seeds. Another means of dispersal may also occur, in which the spiny fruit becomes entangled in the fur of animals, who then carry the fruit far from the mother plant. The seeds are long-lived, having the ability to lie seed dormancy in the soil for many years. The seeds and indeed the whole plant, have strongly deliriant properties and a high potential for overdose; the slow appearance of the effects leading to the erroneous belief that the dose taken has been ineffective.
In Europe often confused with Datura wrightii, for the distinction see that species.
Miller wrote that the "not noxious" name refers to the soft spines on the fruit, which are in contrast to the sharp spines on other Datura species. (Miller refers to the ... "oval fruit, covered with long, soft, innocent spines" ...).Philip Miler. The Gardeners Dictionary: . . . eighth edition Datura no. 5. 1768. [1]
Datura innoxia, like other Datura species, contains the highly toxic atropine, hyoscine (scopolamine), and hyoscyamine. The Aztecs called the plant by the Nahuatl names toloatzin and toloaxihuitl (trans. "the plant with the nodding head" - in reference to the nodding seed capsules) and used it long before the Spanish conquest of Mexico for many therapeutic purposes, such as for wounds where it acts as an anodyne. Although the Aztecs warned against madness and "various and vain imaginings", many Native Americans have used the plant as an entheogen for hallucinations and rites of passage. The alkaloids of these plants are very similar to those of mandrake, deadly nightshade, and henbane, which are also highly poisonous plants used cautiously for effective pain relief in antiquity.
Datura intoxication typically produces a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy (delirium, as contrasted to hallucination); hyperthermia; tachycardia; bizarre, and possibly violent behavior; and severe mydriasis with resultant painful photophobia that can last several days. Pronounced amnesia is another commonly reported effect. There can easily be a 5:1 variation in toxins from plant to plant, and a given plant's toxicity depends on its age, where it is growing, and local weather conditions. These wide variations make Datura exceptionally hazardous to use as a drug. In traditional cultures, users needed to have a great deal of experience and detailed plant knowledge so that no harm resulted from using it. Such knowledge is not widely available in modern cultures, so many unfortunate incidents result from ingesting Datura. In the 1990s and 2000s, the United States media contained stories of and young adults dying or becoming seriously ill from intentionally ingesting Datura.
It has also been planted throughout the world as an ornamental plant for its attractive large leaves, large white flowers, and distinctive thorny fruit. However, the plant is now considered an invasive species in several locations. For example, because of the similarity of its life cycle to that of Gossypium, it is a weed of cotton fields. It is also a potential seed contaminant.
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