Herb. No. 044 · Solanaceae
New World nightshade, now a global waif of waste ground.
Native · Mexico & Central America · North America
Datura
Datura stramonium
Jimsonweed — a roadside nightshade whose tropane alkaloids cause blind, hot, mad, dry delirium. Not a medicine for home use.
Handle as a poison-garden specimen. See Safety before any use.
Atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine are legitimate hospital drugs and deadly garden poisons. Traditional asthma cigarettes and surgical anesthesia are historical; the therapeutic window is tiny and plant potency varies by weather, plant, and leaf. Recreational 'datura trips' last days and include amnesia, hyperthermia, and self-injury. Every part is toxic, including nectar and honey from the flowers. Children have been poisoned by seed pods.
Flavor
Do not taste. Tropane nightshades are bitter and burning.
Parts used
None for self-care. Hospital tropanes only.
In favor
- Teaches tropane toxidrome: hot, dry, blind, mad, red
Against
- Fatal at garden doses
- Days-long delirium
- Seeds attractive to children
- No safe recreational dose