#678 Datura stramonium Common Names: Jimsonweed, thornapple, Jamestown-weed, Devil's apple Family: Solanaceae (nightshade Family) Get link to this Profile or click for data record #678

The huge lavender blossoms of the jimson weed are showy and fragrant.

Location
Jimsonweed is a common weed in pastures, barn yards, roadsides and waste places throughout the US, southern Canada, and most of the world. Some authorities believe it may have come originally from Asia. Today it occurs almost everywhere but Antarctica and the Arctic.

Culture
Light: Full sun to partial shade.
Moisture: Average soil moisture.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 3 - 9.
Propagation: By seed. Jimsonweed germinates readily and self sows under most conditions.

Jimson weed is typically found growing on the disturbed earth of barnyards and construction sites like this one along Interstate 75 in Tennessee.

Features
Jimson is a corruption of Jamestown, where early colonists noted jimsonweed growing in abundance. (Did they bring it to the New World themselves?). The related Datura inoxia of the North American southwest is said to be the most universally used hallucinogenic and medicinal plant known to man. It was used by many if not most native American tribes to induce hallucinations in religious ceremonies and for various medical conditions.

WARNING
All parts of jimsonweed are very poisonous. Cattle and sheep have died from eating it, and children have been poisoned by sucking nectar from the flowers. Symptoms include dilated pupils, thirst, fever, loss of coordination, confusion, rapid pulse, labored respiration, hallucinations, convulsions, and eventual coma. Death is rare however, and, if stomach contents are removed immediately, recovery usually follows in several days. Amnesia of the poisoning event is common. Even inhaling the sweet fragrance of the flowers can cause headaches and dizziness! The sap can cause a skin rash. Some states and municipalities ban the cultivation of jimsonweed and other species of Datura.

Steve Christman 1/1/00; updated 01/05/01, 3/9/04

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