English: Sacred datura; Sacred thorn-apple; Hairy thornapple; Western Jimson weed; Indian whiskey; Indian apple; California jimson weed; California nightshade.
Tongva: Manit.
Chumash: Momoy.
Mexicans: Tolguacha; Toloache.
Clades:
Solanaceae.
Synonym: Datura meteloides.
Region: southwestern North America; northern Mexico; invasive in Australia.
Habitat: full direct sunlight; open, disturbed land, along roadsides; well-drained, sandy soils.
Content: anticholinergic tropane alkaloids, scopolamine.
Toxicity: all parts are dangerous.
Culture: Zuni people use it as an anesthetic and a narcotic; poultice of root and flower meal to promote healing wounds.
Use: in ceremonies and rites of passage by Chumash, Tongva, and others, a spiritual challenge for boys to become a man; for ceremonial, magical, and divinatory purposes; by rain priests to ensure fruitful rains; recreational hallucinations.
Use: ornamental, in xeriscapes; ritaual, hallucinogen.
BotanyVigorous herbaceous perennial; often as a ground vine; 30 to 150 cm tall and wide.
Leaves: broad; rounded at the base, tapering to a point, with wavy margins.
Flowers: sweetly fragrant; trumpets; up to 20 cm long; tinted purple, especially at the margin; 5 narrow points are spaced symmetrically around the rim; flowering from April through October; open in the morning and evening, close during the heat of the day; in cloudy weather, they may open earlier and last longer.
Fruit: spiny, prickly, globular capsule; 3 to 4 cm in diameter; opens when fully ripe.