Datura stramonium

Family: N.O. Solanaceae

Parts Used: Leaves, seeds.  Habitat: Throughout the world, except the colder Arctic regions.

Common Names: Thorn Apple, Devil's Apple, Jamestown-weed, Jimson-weed, Stinkweed, Devil's Trumpet, Apple of Peru.

Synonyms: Stramonium, Datura.

Planet: Saturn and Venus

Deity: Hekate

Datura is, like Henbane, Belladonna and Mandrake a member of the order Solanceae.  The genus is Datura, of which there are fifteen species.  The greatest numbers are found in Central America where nearly all the species are used in their communities as medicine.

Description: Large approx. 3 feet tall on average, coarse herb, annual, propagated by its ample amount of seed, freely branching, bushy.

Root: long, thick, whitish, many fibers.

Stem: stout, erect, leafy, smooth, a pale yellow-green, forked branching.

Leaves: large, angular, 4 to 6 inches long, pronounced veins, dark and grayish-green, smooth.

Flowers: Generally throughout the summer, fragrant trumpet-shaped, white, creamy or violet, 2.5 and 3.5 inches.  Seed capsules thorny, when ripe the vessel opens at the top in four sections, inside are numerous rough, dark-brown seeds. Flowers are sweet-scented and can cause a drowsiness or stupor if inhaled too long. Leaf Aroma: Strong, rank narcotic odor arises from the leaves when bruised.  

Caution: Like belladonna, henbane and mandrake, they all contain dangerous tropane alkaloids--atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. The plant is strongly narcotic, even more dangerous than Belladonna. The whole plant is considered poisonous although some argues that the leaves are not; seeds contain the most alkaloid properties and best used medicinally with care and knowledge only.

  

Toxic Reactions: Dimness of sight, pupil dilation, delirium, can cause manic behavior.  Death from recreational use reported and common, it is thought to act more powerfully on the brain than Belladonna and to produce greater delirium. The remedies to be administered in case of poisoning by Stramonium are the same as those described for Henbane and Belladonna poisoning.

Trance Use: For centuries, Datura stramonium has been considered a "mystical sacrament" gifting the user with powerful visions which can last up to 72 hours. Through the use of the seeds Native cultures have used it to "commune with deities through visions".

In Witchcraft: Datura is the classic "witches' weed" traveling in 'bad company' with the other outcasts witches strive to grow in their gardens.  But how we've grown to love and admire their dark beauty is what we do.  Well known as an essential ingredient of love potions and witches' brews it is equally an ingredient in throwing hexes, breaking curses and according to some, as flying ointments.

Datura, lady with a shadowy past, whose allure rises from her fragrance, calls to us with an ancient siren's patience.  Time on her side, fertile, not cyclical, she waits.  Her embrace, heady, thick and silent, with a kiss that leaves one languishing.