datura

The generic name Datura is taken from Hindi धतूरा {{transliteration|hi|dhatūra}} "thorn-apple",American Heritage Dictionary: datura ultimately from Sanskrit धत्तूर {{IAST|dhattūra}} "white thorn-apple" (referring to Datura metel of Asia).{{MWSD}} In the Ayurvedic text Sushruta Samhita, different species of Datura are also referred to as {{IAST|kanaka}} and {{IAST|unmatta}}. Dhatura is offered to Shiva in Hinduism. Record of this name in English dates back to 1662.the Oxford English Dictionary or OED Nathaniel Hawthorne refers to one type in The Scarlet Letter as "apple-Peru". In Mexico, its common name is toloache. The Mexican common name {{wikt-lang|es|toloache}} (also spelled {{lang|es|tolguacha}}) derives from the Nahuatl {{lang|nah|tolohuaxihuitl}}, meaning "the plant with the nodding head" (in reference to the nodding seed capsules of Datura species belonging to section Dutra of the genus).

The term "Jimsonweed" is said to come from the American colony Jamestown. In Jamestown datura was common,{{Cite web |title=Extension {{!}} Jimsonweed |url=https://extension.wvu.edu/lawn-gardening-pests/weeds/jimsonweed |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=extension.wvu.edu |language=en}} and was referred to as "Jamestown-Weed" by one Virginian, Robert Beverley.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-22 |title=Oddities & Curiosities: The Colonial Case of the Mysterious Jimson Weed |url=https://wydaily.com/latest/local/2021/10/22/oddities-curiosities-the-colonial-case-of-the-mysterious-jimson-weed/ |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Williamsburg Yorktown Daily |language=en-US}} This then turned into the term "Jimsonweed".

Datura species are herbaceous, leafy annuals and short-lived perennials, which can reach up to 2 m in height. The leaves are alternate, 10–20 cm long, and 5–18 cm broad, with a lobed or toothed margin. The flowers are erect or spreading (not pendulous like those of Brugmansia), trumpet-shaped, 5–20 cm long, and 4–12 cm broad at the mouth; colours vary from white to yellow and pale purple. The fruit is a spiny capsule, 4–10 cm long and 2–6 cm broad, splitting open when ripe to release the numerous seeds. The seeds disperse freely over pastures, fields, and even wasteland locations.

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 larvae 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.

File:Datura FR 2012.jpg 'Fastuosa']]

Classifying Datura as to its species is difficult, and the descriptions of new species often are accepted prematurely. Later, these "new species" are found to be simply varieties that have evolved due to conditions at a specific location. They usually disappear in a few years. Contributing to the confusion is the fact that various species, such as D. wrightii and D. inoxia, are very similar in appearance, and the variation within a species can be extreme. For example, Datura species can change size of plant, leaf, and flowers, all depending on location. The same species, when growing in a half-shady, damp location can develop into a flowering bush half as tall as an adult human of average height, but when growing in a very dry location, will only grow into a thin plant not much more than ankle high, with tiny flowers and a few miniature leaves.{{cite book |author1=Preissel, U. |author2=Preissel, H.-G. | title = Brugmansia and Datura: Angel's Trumpets and Thorn Apples | publisher = Firefly Books | year = 2002 | location = Buffalo, NY | pages = 106–129 | isbn = 1-55209-598-3 }} Datura species are native to dry, temperate, and subtropical regions. Most species are native to Mexico, which is considered the center of origin of the genus. Several species are considered to have extra-American native ranges: D. ferox (native to China), D. metel (native to India and Southeast Asia), and D. leichardthii (native to Australia), however these may be early introductions from Central America.{{cite journal |last1=Karinho-Betancourt |first1=Eunice |last2=Agrawal |first2=Anurag A. |last3=Halitschke |first3=Rayko |last4=Nunez-Farf ~ an |first4=Juan |title=Phylogenetic correlations among chemical and physical plant defenses change with ontogeny |journal=New Phytologist |date=2015 |volume=206 |issue=2 |pages=796–806 |doi=10.1111/nph.13300 |pmid=25652325 |doi-access= |bibcode=2015NewPh.206..796K }}

A group of South American species formerly placed in the genus Datura are now placed in the distinct genus Brugmansia{{cite book | editor = Hawkes, J. G. |author1=Lester, R. N. |author2=Nee, M. |author3=Estrada, N. | title = Solanaceae III – Taxonomy, Chemistry, Evolution (Proceedings of Third International Conference on Solanaceae) | publisher = Royal Botanic Gardens | year = 1991 | location = Kew | pages = 197–210 | isbn = 0-947643-31-1 }} (Brugmansia differs from Datura in that it is woody (the species being shrubs or small trees) 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, the Preissels, 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.):

• Datura arenicola Gentry ex Bye & Luna
• Datura ceratocaula Ortega
• Datura discolor Bernh.
• Datura ferox L.
• Datura innoxia Mill.
• Datura kymatocarpa Barclay
• Datura lanosa A.S.Barclay ex Bye
• Datura leichhardtii Benth.
• Datura metel L.
• Datura pruinosa Greenm.
• Datura quercifolia Kunth
• Datura reburra Barclay
• Datura stramonium L.
• Datura wrightii Regel

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. {{ISBN|0-947643-31-1}}.{{cite journal |id={{INIST|3740667}} |last1=Siklós |first1=Bulcsu |title=Datura rituals in the Vajramahabhairava-Tantra |journal=Curare |date=1993 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=71–76 }} Republished as: {{cite journal |last1=Siklós |first1=Bulcsu |title=Datura rituals in the Vajramahabhairava-Tantra |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |date=1994 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=409–416 |jstor=23658487 }}{{cite journal |last1=Cavazos |first1=Mario Luna |last2=Jiao |first2=Meijun |last3=Bye |first3=Robert |title=Phenetic analysis of Datura section Dutra (Solanaceae) in Mexico |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |date=August 2000 |volume=133 |issue=4 |pages=493–507 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2000.tb01592.x |doi-access=free }}

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 to be confused with the species name D. discolor] within the genus. The specific name arenicola means "loving (i.e. "thriving in") sand".{{cite journal |last1=Watson |first1=D. Robert A. |title=Datura arenicola (Solanaceae): A New Species in the New Section Discola from Baja California Sur, Mexico |journal=Madroño |date=July 2013 |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=217–228 |doi=10.3120/0024-9637-60.3.217 |s2cid=86630069 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/282758 |archive-date=6 May 2023 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506165307/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/282758 |url-status=live }}

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.

• D. lanosa
• D. suaveolens

File:Datura fruit.jpg

File:Datura metel Fastuosa2944475918.jpg 'Fastuosa' (Hindi: काला धतूरा kāla dhatūra – "black datura")]]

Datura species are usually sown annually from the seed produced in the spiny capsules, but, with care, the tuberous-rooted perennial species may be overwintered. Most species are suited to being planted outside or in containers. As a rule, they need warm, sunny places and soil that will keep their roots dry. When grown outdoors in good locations, the plants tend to reseed themselves and may become invasive. In containers, they should have porous, aerated potting soil with adequate drainage. The plants are susceptible to fungi in the root area, so anaerobic organic enrichment such as anaerobically composted organic matter or manure, should be avoided.

All Datura plants contain tropane alkaloids such as scopolamine and atropine, primarily in their seeds and flowers, as well as the roots of certain species such as D. wrightii. Because of the presence of these substances, Datura has been used for centuries in some cultures as a poison.{{cite journal | author1 = Adams, J. D. Jr. | author2 = Garcia, C. | title = Spirit, Mind and Body in Chumash Healing | journal = Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine | year = 2005 | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | pages = 459–463 | doi = 10.1093/ecam/neh130 | pmid = 16322802 | pmc = 1297503 }} A given plant's toxicity depends on its age, where it is growing, and the local weather conditions. These variations make Datura exceptionally hazardous as a drug. Since datura directly causes the effects of anticholinergic syndrome, the symptoms of its toxicity are often cited by the traditional mnemonic: "Blind as a bat, mad as a hatter, red as a beet, hot as a hare, dry as a bone, the bowel and bladder lose their tone, and the heart runs alone".{{cite journal | vauthors = Holzman RS | title = The legacy of Atropos, the fate who cut the thread of life | journal = Anesthesiology | volume = 89 | issue = 1 | pages = 241–9 | date = July 1998 | pmid = 9667313 | doi = 10.1097/00000542-199807000-00030 | s2cid = 28327277 | doi-access = free }} citing J. Arena, Poisoning: Toxicology-Symptoms-Treatments, 3rd edition. Springfield, Charles C. Thomas, 1974, p 345 Datura, as well as long-term psychoactive/toxic usage of other anticholinergic drugs, also appear to significantly increase the risk of developing dementia.{{cite web |url = http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=2300 |title = Study suggests link between long-term use of anticholinergics and dementia risk |publisher = Alzheimer's Society |date = 2015-01-26 |access-date = 2015-02-17 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151112115547/https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=2300 |archive-date = 2015-11-12 }}{{cite journal |last1=More |first1=Sandeep |last2=Kumar |first2=Hemant |last3=Cho |first3=Duk-Yeon |last4=Yun |first4=Yo-Sep |last5=Choi |first5=Dong-Kug |title=Toxin-Induced Experimental Models of Learning and Memory Impairment |journal=International Journal of Molecular Sciences |date=1 September 2016 |volume=17 |issue=9 |page=1447 |doi=10.3390/ijms17091447 |pmid=27598124 |pmc=5037726 |doi-access=free }}

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.{{cite journal |last1=Fatur |first1=Karsten |last2=Kreft |first2=Samo |title=Common anticholinergic solanaceaous plants of temperate Europe - A review of intoxications from the literature (1966–2018) |journal=Toxicon |date=April 2020 |volume=177 |pages=52–88 |doi=10.1016/j.toxicon.2020.02.005 |pmid=32217234 |bibcode=2020Txcn..177...52F |s2cid=213559151 }} For example, in the 1990s and 2000s, the United States media reported stories of adolescents and young adults dying or becoming seriously ill from intentionally ingesting Datura.{{cite journal | url = https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5233a2.htm | author1 = Goetz, R. | author2 = Siegel, E. | author3 = Scaglione, J. | author4 = Belson, M. | author5 = Patel, M. | title = Suspected Moonflower Intoxication – Ohio, 2002 | journal = MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | year = 2003 | volume = 52 | issue = 33 | pages = 788–791 | pmid = 12931077 | publisher = CDC | archive-date = 25 June 2017 | access-date = 9 September 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170625120845/https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5233a2.htm | url-status = live }}{{cite news | url = https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-jimson_x.htm | title = Jimson weed users chase high all the way to hospital | access-date = 2009-02-15 | newspaper = USA Today | first = D. | last = Leinwand | date = 2006-11-01 | archive-date = 6 September 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090906122049/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-jimson_x.htm | url-status = live }} Deliberate or inadvertent poisoning resulting from smoking jimsonweed and other related species has been reported as well.{{Cite book|vauthors=Pennachio M, Jefferson L, Havens K |title=Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke: Its Ethnobotany As Hallucinogen, Perfume, Incense, and Medicine|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-19-537001-0|page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pr9fgQIr5LkC&pg=PA7}} 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.{{Cite journal | last1 = Michalodimitrakis | first1 = M. | last2 = Koutselinis | first2 = A. | title = Discussion of "Datura stramonium: A fatal poisoning" | journal = Journal of Forensic Sciences | year = 1984 | volume = 29 | issue = 4 | pages = 961–962 | pmid = 6502123

}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Boumba | first1 = V. A. | last2 = Mitselou | first2 = A. | last3 = Vougiouklakis | first3 = T. | title = Fatal poisoning from ingestion of Datura stramonium seeds | journal = Veterinary and Human Toxicology | volume = 46 | issue = 2 | pages = 81–82 | year = 2004 | pmid = 15080209 |oclc=112473077 }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Steenkamp | first1 = P. A. | last2 = Harding | first2 = N. M. | last3 = Van Heerden | first3 = F. R. | last4 = Van Wyk | first4 = B.-E. | title = Fatal Datura poisoning: Identification of atropine and scopolamine by high performance liquid chromatography / photodiode array / mass spectrometry | doi = 10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.03.011 | journal = Forensic Science International | volume = 145 | issue = 1 | pages = 31–39 | year = 2004 | pmid = 15374592 }} Children are especially vulnerable to atropine poisoning.{{cite journal |author1=Taha, S. A. |author2=Mahdi, A. H. | year = 1984 | title = Datura intoxication in Riyadh | journal = Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene | volume = 78 | issue = 1 | pages = 134–135 | pmid = 6710568 | doi=10.1016/0035-9203(84)90196-2}}{{cite journal | last1 = Djibo | first1 = A. | last2 = Bouzou | first2 = S. B. | title = [Acute intoxication with "sobi-lobi" (Datura). Four cases in Niger] | language = fr | journal = Bulletin de la Société de Pathologie Exotique | year = 2000 | volume = 93 | issue = 4 | pages = 294–297 | pmid = 11204734 }}

File:Datura innoxia fruit split open.jpg

In some parts of Europe and India, Datura has been a popular poison for suicide and murder.{{cite journal |last1=Fatur |first1=Karsten |last2=Kreft |first2=Samo |title=Common anticholinergic solanaceaous plants of temperate Europe - A review of intoxications from the literature (1966–2018) |journal=Toxicon |date=April 2020 |volume=177 |pages=52–88 |doi=10.1016/j.toxicon.2020.02.005 |pmid=32217234 |bibcode=2020Txcn..177...52F |s2cid=213559151 }} From 1950 to 1965, the State Chemical Laboratories in Agra, India, investigated 2,778 deaths caused by ingesting Datura.{{cite web|last=Andrews|first=Dale|title=Daturas|url=http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2012/02/daturas.html|work=Crime Poisons|publisher=SleuthSayers|access-date=4 March 2013|location=Washington|date=2013-02-28|archive-date=10 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210034739/https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2012/02/daturas.html|url-status=live}} A group called Thugs (practicers of thuggee) were reportedly devotees of an Indian religious cult made up of robbers and assassins who strangled or poisoned their victims in rituals 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.Dash, Mike Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult {{ISBN|1-86207-604-9}}, 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 honey wasps apparently collect Datura nectar for honey production, which can lead to poisoning.{{cite journal |last1=Bequaert |first1=Joseph |title=The Nearctic Social Wasps of the Subfamily Polybiinae (Hymenopetra; Vespidae) |journal=Entomologica Americana |date=29 November 1933 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=87–150 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/bee_lab_ba/285/ |archive-date=24 October 2021 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024155709/https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/bee_lab_ba/285/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite journal |title=Jimsonweed poisoning associated with a homemade stew - Maryland, 2008 |journal=Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report |date=5 February 2010 |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=102–104 |pmid=20134399 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5904a3.htm |author1=Centers for Disease Control Prevention |archive-date=24 October 2021 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024160945/https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5904a3.htm |url-status=live }}

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.

Datura is considered a deliriant. Due to the potent combination of anticholinergic substances it contains, Datura intoxication typically produces the effects of anticholinergic delirium (usually involving a complete or relative inability to differentiate reality from fantasy); bizarre thoughts, hyperthermia; tachycardia; bizarre, and possibly violent behavior; dry skin; dry mouth; illusions; and severe mydriasis (dilated pupils) with resultant painful photophobia that can last several days.{{cite journal |last1=Fatur |first1=Karsten |last2=Kreft |first2=Samo |title=Common anticholinergic solanaceaous plants of temperate Europe - A review of intoxications from the literature (1966–2018) |journal=Toxicon |date=April 2020 |volume=177 |pages=52–88 |doi=10.1016/j.toxicon.2020.02.005 |pmid=32217234 |bibcode=2020Txcn..177...52F |s2cid=213559151 }} Muscle stiffness, urinary retention, temporary paralysis, disrobing, emotional bluntness, dysphoria, and confusion are often reported, and pronounced amnesia is another commonly reported effect.{{cite book | last = Freye | first = E. | chapter = Toxicity of Datura Stramonium | date = 2009 | title = Pharmacology and Abuse of Cocaine, Amphetamines, Ecstasy and Related Designer Drugs | publisher = Springer | location = Netherlands | pages = 217–218 | isbn = 978-90-481-2447-3 | doi = 10.1007/978-90-481-2448-0_34 }}{{cite journal |last1=Fatur |first1=Karsten |last2=Kreft |first2=Samo |title=Common anticholinergic solanaceaous plants of temperate Europe - A review of intoxications from the literature (1966–2018) |journal=Toxicon |date=April 2020 |volume=177 |pages=52–88 |doi=10.1016/j.toxicon.2020.02.005 |pmid=32217234 |bibcode=2020Txcn..177...52F |s2cid=213559151 }} The psychoactive alkaloids scopolamine and atropine are also both known for their characteristic hyperactive effects and ability to cause stark and dream-like hallucinations.{{cite journal |last1=Volgin |first1=Andrey D. |last2=Yakovlev |first2=Oleg A. |last3=Demin |first3=Konstantin A. |last4=Alekseeva |first4=Polina A. |last5=Kyzar |first5=Evan J. |last6=Collins |first6=Christopher |last7=Nichols |first7=David E. |last8=Kalueff |first8=Allan V. |title=Understanding Central Nervous System Effects of Deliriant Hallucinogenic Drugs through Experimental Animal Models |journal=ACS Chemical Neuroscience |date=16 January 2019 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=143–154 |doi=10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00433 |pmid=30252437 |s2cid=52824516 }}{{cite web | url = http://studentdoctor.net/2008/07/atypical-drugs-of-abuse/ | title = Atypical Drugs of Abuse | author = Forest E | date = 27 July 2008 | work = Articles & Interviews | publisher = Student Doctor Network | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130527231559/http://studentdoctor.net/2008/07/atypical-drugs-of-abuse/ | archive-date = 27 May 2013 }} The onset of symptoms generally occurs around 30 to 60 minutes after ingesting the herb. These symptoms generally last from 24 to 48 hours, but have been reported in some cases to last two weeks or longer.{{cite journal | last = Bliss | first = Molly | title = Datura Plant Poisoning | journal = Clinical Toxicology Review | year = 2001 | volume = 23 | issue = 6 | url = http://www.maripoisoncenter.com/assets/images/pdfs/ctrs/CTR%20Datura%20Plant%20Poisoning.pdf | access-date = 8 July 2010 | archive-date = 23 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210423112108/http://www.maripoisoncenter.com/assets/images/pdfs/ctrs/CTR%20Datura%20Plant%20Poisoning.pdf }}{{cite journal |last1=Fatur |first1=Karsten |last2=Kreft |first2=Samo |title=Common anticholinergic solanaceaous plants of temperate Europe - A review of intoxications from the literature (1966–2018) |journal=Toxicon |date=April 2020 |volume=177 |pages=52–88 |doi=10.1016/j.toxicon.2020.02.005 |pmid=32217234 |bibcode=2020Txcn..177...52F |s2cid=213559151 }}

Due to their agitated behavior and confused mental state, people with acute Datura poisoning or intoxication are typically hospitalized. Gastric lavage and the administration of activated charcoal can be used to reduce the stomach's absorption of the ingested material, and the drug physostigmine is used to reverse the effect of the poisons. Benzodiazepines can be given to calm the patient's agitation, and supportive care with oxygen, hydration, and symptomatic treatment is often provided. Observation of the patient is indicated until the symptoms resolve, usually from 24 to 36 hours after ingestion of the Datura.

In Pharmacology and Abuse of Cocaine, Amphetamines, Ecstasy and Related Designer Drugs, Freye asserts, "Few substances have received as many severely negative recreational experience reports as has Datura."{{cite journal |last1=Fatur |first1=Karsten |title=Peculiar plants and fantastic fungi: An ethnobotanical study of the use of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms in Slovenia |journal=PLOS ONE |date=7 January 2021 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=e0245022 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0245022 |pmid=33412556 |pmc=7790546 |bibcode=2021PLoSO..1645022F |doi-access=free }} The overwhelming majority of those who describe their use of Datura find their experiences extremely unpleasant ─ both mentally and often physically. However, anthropologists have found that indigenous groups, with a great deal of experience with and detailed knowledge of Datura, have been known to use Datura spiritually (including the Navajo and especially the Havasupai).{{cite journal|doi=10.3736/jintegrmed2013016|pmid=23506688|title=A review on the pharmacological and toxicological aspects of Datura stramonium L|journal=Journal of Integrative Medicine|volume=11|issue=2|pages=73–9|year=2013|last1=Gaire|first1=Bhakta Prasad|last2=Subedi|first2=Lalita}}{{cite book| title=Stairways to Heaven: Drugs in American Religious History| first=Robert C| last=Fuller| year=2000| page=[https://archive.org/details/stairwaystoheave00full/page/32 32]| isbn=0-8133-6612-7| publisher=Basic Books| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/stairwaystoheave00full/page/32}} Adequate knowledge of Datura{{'s}} properties is necessary to facilitate a safe experience. The ancient inhabitants of what became central and southern California used to ingest Datura to "commune with deities through visions".{{cite book |vauthors=Lopez Austin A, Lopez Lujan L |title=Mexico's Indigenous Past |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8061-3723-0 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzB4rfXObCwC&pg=PA22}} The Southern Paiute believe Datura can help locate missing objects.{{cite book |title=Southern Paiute Shamanism |first1=Isabel T. |last1=Kelly |year=1939 |url=http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar002-005.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107022113/http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar002-005.pdf |archive-date=2017-11-07 |url-status=live }} In ancient Mexico, Datura also played an important role in the religion of the Aztecs and the practices of their medicine men and necromancers.{{cite book |last1=Safford |first1=William |title=Narcotic Plants and Stimulants of the Ancient Americans |date=1916 |publisher=Economic Botanist |location=United States |pages=405–406 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJXdX3IEtycC&q=datura+necromancy&pg=PA405}} It was reportedly used by the Aztecs for ritual sacrifice and malevolent purposes as well.{{cite journal |last1=Carod-Artal |first1=F.J. |title=Alucinógenos en las culturas precolombinas mesoamericanas |trans-title=Hallucinogenic drugs in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures |language=es |journal=Neurología |date=January 2015 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=42–49 |doi=10.1016/j.nrl.2011.07.003 |pmid=21893367 |doi-access= }} In modern-day Mexico, some datura species are still used for sorcery and other occult practices, mostly in the southern region of Veracruz, specifically in the city of Catemaco.{{cite book |last1=Endredy |first1=James |title=The Flying Witches of Veracruz: A Shaman's True Story of Indigenous Witchcraft, Devil's Weed, and Trance Healing in Aztec Brujeria |date=2011 |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |isbn=978-0-7387-3114-8 }}{{page needed|date=October 2021}}{{cite news |author=Jim Budd|title= Viajando Ligero/ El misterioso Catemaco |newspaper=Reforma |location=Mexico City |date=27 October 2002 |page=5 }}

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 Haitian zombie potion.{{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of Hallucations |location=Oradell, NJ. |publisher=Springer |year=2010|page=127}} In Western culture, the same species (Datura stramonium) has been said to have been commonly used by witches as an ingredient for their flying ointments 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.{{cite book | last = Kuklin | first = Alexander | title = How Do Witches Fly?| publisher = DNA Press |date=February 1999 | isbn = 0-9664027-0-7 }} 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.{{cite book|author=Grieve, Maud|title=A Modern Herbal: The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs, & Trees with All Their Modern Scientific Uses, Volume 2|publisher=Dover Publications|year=1971|isbn=978-0-486-22799-3|page=804|url=https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/thorna12.html#des|archive-date=6 May 2023|access-date=20 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506165310/https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/thorna12.html#des|url-status=live}}

File:Datura stramonium RF.jpg|D. stramonium (lateral view) near Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany

File:Datura wrightii, Twentynine Palms California - 2014-07.jpg | D. wrightii in bloom (lateral view) near Twentynine Palms, California, U.S.

File:Datura Flower on the plant (Lateral View) near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India 01.jpg|Datura flower on the plant (lateral view) near Hyderabad, Telangana, India

File:Datura Flower on the plant (Top View) near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India 02.jpg|Datura flower on the plant (top view) near Hyderabad, Telangana, India

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• Anticholinergics
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• List of poisonous plants
• Psychoactive plant

{{Reflist}}

{{Wikispecies}}

• {{cite web | url = http://www.erowid.org/plants/datura/datura.shtml | publisher = Erowid | title = Datura Vault }}

{{Commons category}}

• {{cite book | author = Rätsch, C. | orig-date = 1998 | year = 2005 | title = The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants | url = https://www.scribd.com/doc/70492442/The-Encyclopedia-of-Psychoactive-Plants | location = Rochester, VT | publisher = Park Street Press | isbn = 978-0-89281-978-2 | access-date = 9 September 2017 | archive-date = 22 August 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130822070322/http://www.scribd.com/doc/70492442/The-Encyclopedia-of-Psychoactive-Plants }}
• {{eMedicine2|article|816657|Tropane Alkaloid Poisoning}} on eMedicine
• {{cite journal|last=Roblot|first=F|author2=Montaz, L |author3=Delcoustal, M |author4=Gaboriau, E |author5=Chavagnat, JJ |author6=Morichaud, G |author7=Pourrat, O |author8=Scepi, M |author9= Patte, D |title=Intoxication par Datura stramonium: Le diagnostic est clinique, le traitement est symptomatique [Datura stramonium poisoning: the diagnosis is clinical, treatment is symptomatic].|journal=La Revue de Médecine Interne|date=1995|volume=16|issue=3|pages=187–90|pmid=7740228|doi=10.1016/0248-8663(96)80689-8|language=fr}}
• {{cite journal|last=Krenzelok|first=Edward P.|title=Aspects of poisoning and treatment|journal=Clinical Toxicology|date=February 2010|volume=48|issue=2|pages=104–110|doi=10.3109/15563651003630672|pmid=20229618|s2cid=28433567}}

{{Hallucinogens}}

{{Cholinergics}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q192497}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Deliriants

Category:Entheogens

Category:Herbal and fungal hallucinogens

Category:Oneirogens

Category:Solanaceae genera

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus