Additional notes (click to expand)
Medicinal
Restricted prescription only medicine: hyoscine
There is a video by Dr Henry Oakeley
Videos from the garden
link
Nomenclature
Jimson weed - Common name comes from Jamestown weed, Jamestown Island in Virginia. It was given to British soldiers by early settlers in an attempt to overthrough British rule, causing them to go crazy for eleven days.
Stewart A.(2009) Wicked Plants. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. p.67
Other use
Materials; beads.
Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) at www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/tax_search.pl
Witches believed they could fly after applying this hallucinogen as an ointment.
Wink, Michael & Ben-Erik van Wyk (2008). Mind-Altering and Poisonous Plants of the World. Timber Press
Further reading on this plant can be found here:
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.18006
Cabi digital library https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.18006
Toxicity
Vertebrate poison: Mammals.
Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) at www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/tax_search.pl
Neurotoxic. All parts (but more concentrated in seeds) contain tropane alkaloids that cause hallucinations & seizures. Other common side effects include fever, failure of autonomic nervous system, which regulates heartbeat and respiration, leading to coma and death.
Stewart A.(2009) Wicked Plants. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. p.67
Toxic due to tropane alkaloids that inhibit many nerve functions.
Professor Anthony Dayan, 2022
Geographical distribution
- Northern America, Mexico
Podcast
Datura stramonium L.
Family: SOLANACEAEGenus: Datura
Species: stramonium L.
Common names: Thorn- Apple; Jimsonweed
Distribution summary: Mexico (naturalised elsewhere)
Habit: Annual
Hardiness: H4 - Hardy; average winter
Habitat: Scrub and waste land
Garden status: Currently grown
Garden location: Olive tree bed (O)
Flowering months: July, August, September, October
Reason for growing: Medicinal, toxic, prescription only medicine
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