Datura stramonium L.

Datura Stramonium L.
Thorn Apple

Datura Stramonium L.

Datura stramonium L.
Thorn Apple

Synonyms

Datura stramonium L. var. godronii Danert [syn. Datura inermis] has thornless fruits and light violet flowers.

Datura stramonium L. var. inermis (Juss. ex Jacq.) Timm. has smooth fruits, white flowers, and green stalks.

Datura stramonium L. var. tatula Torr. has thorny fruits, violet flowers, and violet-tinged shoots, leafstalks, and leaf veins. The karyotype of Datura stramonium L. var. tatula Torr. is almost identical to that of Datura wrightii (Spurnaetal. 1981).

Datura stramonium L. var. stramonium Off. has thorny fruits, white flowers, and green shoots.

The following varieties were described at an earlier date:

Datura stramonium L. var. (3 canescens Wallich in Roxburgh

Datura stramonium L. var. (3 chalybea Koch

The following subspecies are also accepted today:

Datura stramonium L. ssp. ferox (L.) Barclay , which is probably from South America and not from China

Datura stramonium L. ssp. querdfolia

Datura stramonium L. ssp.[or var.] villosa

Folk Names

Ama:ymustak, ama:y’uhc (Mixe, “dangerous plant”), ana panku (Quechua), apple of Peru, arhi- aba, asthmakraut, atafaris, attana, azacapan- yxhuatlazol-patli (Nahuatl), chamaka, chamico (Quechua), chasse-taupe, chililiceno tapat (cor- ruption of tlapati), cojon del diablo, common thorn apple, concombre a chien, concombre zombi (Caribic, “zombie cucumber”), devil’s apple, devil’s trumpet, dhatura, donnerkugel, doornappel (Dutch), dornapfel, dornkraut, dutry, el-rita (Morocco), endormeuse, estramonio, feng- ch’ieh-erh (Chinese), gemeiner stechapfel, hehe caroocot (Seri, “plant that makes crazy”), herbe aux sorciers (French, “sorcery plant”), herbe de taupes, hierba del diablo (“plant of the devil”), hierba hedionda (“stinking plant”), hierba inca (“Inca plant”), higuera loca (“crazy fig”), igel- kolben, ix telez ku, Jamestown weed, jimsonweed, jimson weed, jouj macel (Arabic), khishqa khishqa (Quechua, “very thorny”), kieli-sa (Huichol, “bad kielf), kratzkraut, manzana del diablo (“apple of the devil”), manzana espinosa (“thorny apple”), matul (Tzeltal), mehen xtohk’u’u (Mayan, “little plant in the direction of the gods”), menj (Arabic/Yemen), mezerbae, mezzettoni, miaia, miaya (Mapuche), mixitl, miyaya, moshobaton tahui (Shipibo), muranha (Swahili), niungue, noce puzza, noce spinosa, nongue, nongue morada, papa espinosa (Spanish, “thorny potato”), parbutteeya, patula (Turkish), patura, pomme de diable, pomme epineuse, rurutillo (from the Quechua ruru, “fruit”), santos noches, schlafkraut, schwarzkummel, semilla de la virgen (“seeds of the virgin”), shinah azqhi, simpson weed, stachel- nufi, stachelnuB, stink weed, stramoine, stramoine commune, stramonio, stramonio comune, stra- monium, taac-amai’ujts (Mixe), ta:g’amih (Mixe, “grandmother”), tatula (Persian, “to prick”), tc’oxwotjilyaih (Navajo), teufelsapfel, thanab (Huastec), thanab thakni’ (“white thanab”), thang- phrom dkar-po (Tibetan), thorn apple, tohk’u (Mayan, “the direction of the gods”), tollkraut,118 toloache, tonco-onco, torescua (Tarascan), tukhm- tatura (Persian), tzitzintlapatl (Aztec, “thorny tlapat), weifier stechapfel, wysoccan, xholo (Zapotec), yacu toe, yoshu chosen asago (Japanese, “exotic morning flower”), zigeunerapfel.

This annual plant can grow to a height of about 1.2 meters. It produces many forked, bald branches. The margins of the rich green leaves are coarsely serrated. The funnel-shaped, five-pointed flowers grow from the axils and point straight up; in the common form, they are white. This species produces the smallest flowers (6 to 9 cm long) of the Datura species. The egg-shaped green fruits, which are densely covered with short, pointed thorns, are quadripartite and always grow straight up from the axils, a feature which makes it easy to distinguish this species (including all of its varieties and/or subspecies) from the other Datura species. The kidney-shaped, applanate seeds (up to 3.5 mm long) are usually black.
The subspecies ferox, which was previously thought to be a distinct species, bears leaves that are more clearly and more deeply serrated than those of the common form, while its fruits have longer and slightly curved thorns. The seeds are somewhat lighter in color; they can be brown or black (and may occur in different colors in the same fruit). The flowers are pure white.
The variety tatula produces smaller violet flowers. The variety stramonium has many short thorns; the subspecies ferox has only a few long, sometimes slightly curved thorns; the variety quercifolia has even fewer thorns that are somewhat shorter but thicker at the basis. The subspecies villosa (cf. Datura spp.) has very pileous (hairy) branches, stalks, and calyxes.
Datura stramonium can be confused with small forms of Datura discolor, Datura innoxia, and Datura metel.

Appearance

Today, Datura stramonium is commonly found throughout North, Central, and South America; North Africa; central and southern Europe; the Near East; and the Himalayas. The plant is very common on the islands of the Caribbean. In the Himalayas (Nepal), the violet-blooming Datura stramonium var. tatula is the most common form. The subspecies ferox grows primarily in Central and South America. In Germany and Switzerland, the common thorn apple has been growing wild (usually in rubbish dumps and on roadsides) since at least the sixteenth century. It has also spread into Israel and Greece.

Distribution

Cultivation occurs in the same manner as with all Datura species, Datura Stramonium is propagated from seeds. Often, the seeds must simply be scattered over the ground. Seeds also can be grown in seedbeds or germination pots. They should be gently pressed into the soil or germinating substrate (0.5 to 1 cm deep) and watered regularly. The germination period is relatively short (five to ten days). The seedlings are somewhat sensitive. They do not tolerate direct or intense sunlight or complete shade. They will not survive excessive watering, yet if the soil or substrate dries out, the seedlings will die. The seedlings quickly grow into small, robust plants, which can then be repotted or planted in the ground. At this time, the plants will tolerate more exposure to the sun.
While most Datura species require relatively large amounts of water, they need little other care. Datura is self-sowing, so once it has been in a garden, it will likely be seen again in subsequent years.
Although the daturas are originally from subtropical and tropical zones, they adapt well to the climate of central Europe. In this area, seedlings should not be transplanted into the open until mid-May. Wild, self-sowing plants quickly adapt to local ecological conditions.
The common thorn apple is cultivated commercially for pharmaceutical purposes (as a source of raw drugs and of scopolamine). It has been determined that cultivated thorn apples produce considerably more scopolamine when exposed to intense light. In contrast, nitrogenous fertilizers have no effect. It is likely that alkaloid production in the plant can be stimulated by the addition of sugar (saccharose).

Cultivation

The origins of this potently hallucinogenic thorn apple species are unknown and have been the subject of considerable botanical debate. Some authors have suggested that Datura stramonium is an Old World species from the region of the Caspian Sea, while others maintain that it originated in Mexico. It is less frequently assumed that the species is from the eastern coast of North America. Still other authors believe that the plant is from Eurasia and did not arrive in Mexico until the colonial period.
In the seventeenth century, the plant’s use as an inebriant (“drunk in wine”) was documented in Chile. Datura tatula (= Datura stramonium L. var. tatula) has been interpreted as the “lost inebriant” of the Shawnee.
In 1676, a troop of soldiers in Jamestown, Virginia, was served a salad made from thorn apple leaves by their cook. The soldiers fell into a state of delirium that got out of hand and acted like idiots (see “Effects”). As a result, the plant also became known by the name Jamestown weed, which eventually became jimsonweed. In Mexico, Datura stramonium is generally regarded as a “younger sister” of Datura innoxia, and it is used in the same ways.
The interpretation that Datura stramonium is the plant that Theophrastus and Dioscorides referred to as strychnos manikos is quite uncertain. It is more likely that these ancient descriptions refer to the poison nut (Strychnos nux- vomica). The trance-inducing smoke of Delphi (cf. Hyoscyamus albus) has been attributed to an incense made with Datura stramonium.
In the European literature, this and other species of thorn apple (Datura innoxia, Datura metel) were described in all the herbals compiled by the fathers of botany. The first botanically precise illustrations of Datura stramonium are contained in the herbals of Hieronymus Bock and Pierandrea Matthiolus. It is widely believed that Gypsies brought this thorn apple to Europe (Perger 1864). Matthiolus wrote that Tatula Strominio altera was an Oriental plant.

History

Aztec medical texts provide the following description of Datura stramonium:
Mixitl. It is of average size, round, green-leaved. It has seeds. The ground seeds are applied where there is gout. It is not edible, not drinkable. It paralyzes one, closes one’s eyes, constricts one’s throat, holds back the voice, makes one thirsty, deadens the testicles, splits the tongue.
It cannot be noticed when it has been drunk. Those whom it paralyzes when that person’s eyes are closed, he remains behind with closed eyes for all time. That which he looks at, he looks at forever. One becomes stiff, dumb. This can be relieved a little with wine [= pulque; cf. Agave spp.]. I take Mixitl. I give someone Mixitl.

The Yucatec Maya roast the leaves on a clay or metal disk (comal) and then place them on areas affected by muscle pains and rheumatism. Apart from this, the folk medical uses are the same as with Datura innoxia.
In Peru and Chile, a tea made from the leaves is drunk to alleviate pain In Peru, a tea made with Datura stramonium ssp. ferox is drunk for stomachaches. The Mapuche use a tea of the fresh herbage of Datura stramonium ssp. ferox as a narcotic and a Datura ointment for toothaches. The entire plant is administered in various preparations to treat pains, inflammations, cancer, and neuritis.

In Uttar Pradesh (India), juice pressed from the fruits is massaged into the scalp to treat dandruff. In Southeast Asia, the roots are used to treat the bites of rabid dogs and insanity, while the leaves are smoked for asthma.
Throughout the world, Datura stramonium is regarded as an aphrodisiac and as an agent for treating asthma. When used for asthma, either the leaves are smoked or the seeds, burned as incense, are inhaled. In the Canary Islands, where this species is known as santos noches (“holy nights”), the dried leaves are also smoked for asthma.

During the early modern period, Datura stramonium was used to make love drinks, but it was also recommended for mental disorders and other diseases:
In some parts of France and Germany, both the herbage and the seeds of this narcotic poisonous plant are used as a home remedy for toothaches, wheezing, and other nervous afflictions of a chronic nature. The seeds are placed in the hollow, painful tooth, and a small pipe full of one part of the leaves and eight parts of tobacco [see Nicotiana tabacum] are smoked once daily or as often as the asthma attacks occur. Dried, it is also made into cigars that are smoked for the same purpose. In the hands of the physician, the Tinctura Seminum Stramonii, five to fifteen drops two to three times daily, is a very effective agent against a pathologically increased sexual desire, nymphomania, and satyriasis, but should never be allowed to become a folk medicine.

In Peru, chamico leaves (Datura stramonium ssp. ferox) are applied externally as a facial wash to treat headaches and migraines. An industrially manufactured perfume called Chamico is dabbed onto the face for the same purpose. This scent is also used to promote one’s own attractiveness, for love magic, and to increase male potency. It is unknown whether this perfume is made using Datura, but it is very unlikely. However, the enclosed instructions include a “prayer to the chamico perfume” that makes reference to its hypnotic effects.

In Europe, the plant has been widely used for medicinal purposes since the eighteenth century. In 1747, Elisabeth Blackwell wrote the following in her Herbal: “Some use the leaves as a cooling agent when a person has received a burn, and to fight inflammations. The seeds have a power to make one slack and sedated”.
Cigarettes made from Datura stramonium were being smoked as a treatment for asthma and mental illnesses as late as the twentieth century.

In homeopathy, Datura stramonium horn, (usually in dilutions of D3 and greater) is used in accordance with the medical description to treat such ailments as whooping cough, asthma, neuralgia, and nervous excitement. It is used especially for disturbances of the mind, for “the entire power of this agent appears to expend itself in the brain”.

Medicinal Use

In Mexico and neighboring regions, the psychoactive use of Datura stramonium is similar to that of Datura innoxia (see there). Among the Huastec, it is said that Datura stramonium leaves can kill witches and sorcerers (brujas and brujos). The Yucatec Maya call this plant mehen xtoh-k’uh (“little plant in the direction of the gods”).
The Mixe of Oaxaca (Mexico) believe that Datura stramonium contains a plant spirit in the form of a very old woman. For this reason, one Mixe name for the plant is ta:g’amih, “grandmother” (cf. Datura wrightii). When a portion of the plant is to be harvested, the people make a small offering of three pebbles or a couple of branches. They also speak a prayer:
Grandmother, do us a favor and cure the illness [name of person] is suffering from. Here we pay you, we carry the plant to see what illness she or he has. We are sure that you will remedy the illness .

The seeds are then swallowed in a ritual context for divination (cf. Datura innoxia)—following the same pattern as the mushroom ritual (see Psilocybe mexicana) in the following dosages: Men take three times nine seeds (= twenty-seven), while women three times seven seeds (= twenty- one). In contrast to mushrooms and ololiuqui (Turbina corymbosa), however, Datura seeds can be ingested during the day.

Although preparations of Datura stramonium (cf. Datura innoxia), e.g., jugo de toloache and polvo de toloache, are sold in Mexican herb stores, such transactions usually occur under the table, as the (Catholic) population believes that this plant was created by the devil.
Chamico, the common South American name for the thorn apple (ssp.ferox), is derived from the A ymara word chamakani, “soothsayer”. The plant apparently has had a long tradition as a prophetic and oracular plant (similar to Brugmansia sanguined). The Mapuche use a psychoactively effective brew made with seeds of Datura stramonium ssp.ferox (miyaya) to treat (mental) illnesses that are produced by the wefukes spirits and to educate their children.

In North America, the most significant use of Datura stramonium in ritual contexts is as an ingredient in smoking blends and kinnikinnick, which are used to aid in vision quests. If the interpretation of the term wysoccan as a common name for Datura stramonium is in fact correct, then the Algonquian used the plant as a ritual narcotic.
In Europe, the thorn apple was associated with witches’ rituals and witches’ ointments in the early modern period. In Germany, Russia, and China, the seeds were added to beer to lend it potent narcotic properties.

In Europe, the seeds served as an incense, a custom allegedly derived from the Gypsies:
The seeds are used in fumigations to chase away ghosts or to invoke spirits. All of the gypsies’ arts are said to come primarily from a precise knowledge of the juices of the thorn apple.

The Gypsies used the thorn apple as an oracular plant in a ritual reminiscent of shamanism:
On Andrea’s night (November 30), thorn apple seeds are placed outside in the open. The next morning, they are then thrown into the fire. If the seeds burn with a loud crackle, then the winter will be dry but very cold. . . . When the tent gypsies wish to find out if a sick person is going to become healthy or not, they ask the “magic drum.” An animal skin is marked with lines, each one of which has a special meaning. Nine to twenty-one thorn apple seeds are strewn across the skin, and these are set in motion by hitting the skin with a small hammer a certain number of times (9 to 21). The position of the seeds on or between the lines then tells whether the sick person will recover or die. This same procedure is also performed for sick animals or to recover stolen objects.

Ritual Use

Leaves (stramonii folium, folia stramonii, stramonium leaves, thorn apple leaves)
Seeds (stramonii semen, semen stramonii, thorn apple seeds, tollkorner,119 kachola120)

Flowers
Roots (radix stramonii, tollwurzel)

Psychoactve Material

Psychoactive Material

The entire plant contains tropane alkaloids. The alkaloid content can vary greatly and lies between 0.25 and 0.36% (with one recorded instance of 0.5%) in the leaves and between 0.18 and 0.22% in the roots. The flowers can contain as much as 0.61% alkaloids and the seeds up to 0.66%. The main alkaloids in all parts of the plants are L- hyoscyamine and i,-scopolamine; also present are apoatropine, tropine, belladonnine, and hyos- cyamine-N-oxide. Dried leaves and seeds contain 0.1 to 0.6% alkaloids. Apoatropine and tropanole arise only when the raw drug is stored in an inap- propriate manner or for too long a time. Young plants contain chiefly scopolamine and older ones primarily hyoscyamine.
Datura stramonium L. var. tatula Torr. contains primarily hyoscyamine. In addition to the alkaloids that are regarded as the primary active constituents, withanolides, lectines, peptides, and coumarins are also present.
The seeds of the Argentinean Datura stra- monium ssp. ferox have been found to contain 3a-tigloyloxytropane (= tigloyltropeine), 3-phenyl- acetoxy-63, 73-epoxytropane (= 3-phenylacetoxy- scopine), aposcopolamine (= apohyoscine), 7p-hydroxy-63-propenyloxy-3a-tropoyloxytro- pane, traces of 7(3-hydroxy-6p-isovaleroyloxy-3a- tigloyoxytropane, the pyrrolidine alkaloid hygrine, and the previously unknown 3-phenylacetoxy- 6p, 7p-epoxytropane, 3-phenylacetoxyscopine, and 73-hydroxy-63-propenyloxy-3a-tropoyloxy- tropane.

Constituents

The herbage is harvested shortly after the flowering phase and hung in the shade to dry. It may be smoked alone or in smoking blends with other herbs:
The leaves of Datura stramonium are said to be smoked by the Utahs, the Indians of the Great Salt Lake, as well as the Pima and Maricopa, together with the leaves of Arctostaphy- los glauca or alone.

Even into the twentieth century, the herbage was one of the primary ingredients in asthma cigarettes (cf. Cannabis indica). One gram of leaves (alkaloid content = app. 0.25%) is regarded as a therapeutically efficacious dosage for smoking. As with all information concerning thorn apple dosages, however, this information should be used with care: “When the drug is administered through inhalation of smoking powders and ‘asthma cigarettes,’ the amount of applied alkaloids is incalculable”.

The Huastec, who live on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, make a magical medicine from thorn apple leaves, slaked lime, and chili pods (Capsicum annuum var. annuum; cf. Capsicum spp.). In South America, a paste of freshly ground leaves (of the subspecies ferox) and vinegar is prepared for external use. In the Andes region, Datura stramonium (usually the subspecies ferox) is used as an additive to San Pedro drinks (see Trichocereus pachanoi). The thorn apple, which is also known as the zombie cucumber, is an active ingredient in zombie poison.

Four to 5 g of dried leaves contains enough alkaloids to produce fatal results, and as little as 0.3 g can be toxic. In Morocco, inhaling the smoke of forty seeds that have been strewn over glowing coals is regarded as a hallucinogenic dosage. For use in psychoactive incense, see Datura metel.

In homeopathic medicine, thorn apple is also used in composite medicines, e.g., Stramonium Pentarkan, which consists of Datura stramonium, Ignatius beans (cf. Strychnos spp.), calcium phosphate, zinc, and passionflower (Passiflora spp.).

Preparation and Dosage

The profile of effects of Datum stramonium is essentially the same as that of Datura innoxia and Datura metel. Among the characteristic effects are
dryness of the mouth, difficulty in swallowing, dilation of the pupils, restlessness, confusion, and hallucinations. The effects sometimes begin after only a half an hour but may occasionally appear after four hours, and they can persist for days .

In his History and Present State of Virginia, Robert Beverly described the oft-quoted effects that occurred when English soldiers at Jamestown unknowingly or accidentally ate thorn apple leaves as a salad:
The James-Town Weed (which resembles the Thorny Apple of Peru, and I take it to be the Plant so call’d) is supposed to be one of the greatest Coolers in the World. This being an early Plant, was gather’d very young for a boil’d salad, by some of the Soldiers sent thither, to pacific the troubles of Bacon; and some of them eat plentifully of it, the Effect of which was a very pleasant Comedy; for they turn’d natural Fools upon it for several Days: One would blow up a Feather in the Air; another wou’d dart Straws at himself, and another stark naked and grinning like a monkey, sitting in the corner, tried to mow the grass; a Fourth would fondly kiss, and paw his Companions, and snear in the Faces, with a Countenance more antick, than any in a Dutch Droll. In this frantick condition they were confined, lest they should in their Folly destroy themselves; though it was observed, that all their Actions were full of Innocence and good nature. Indeed, they were not very cleanly; for they would have wallow’d in their own Excrements, if they had not been prevented. A Thousand such simple Tricks they play’d, and after Eleven Days, return’d themselves again, not remembering anything that had pass’d.

In the Canary Islands, thorn apple grows like a weed. Many young tourists have consumed teas made from the flowers, swallowed or smoked the seeds, or eaten the fresh leaves. The majority of the experiences they have reported have been unpleasant. One man smoked thorn apple seeds and became feverish for three days. Another man who drank a tea made with the flowers collected and ate his feces for three days. Others who had eaten the seeds went swimming and decided to swim to one of the neighboring islands. Some have felt themselves transported back in time, where they conversed with the Guancha, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, who have been “extinct for 600 years” (cf. Cytisus canariensis). Many simply felt ill. Reports mention nausea, headache, and confusion. Positive experiences, which do also occur, are only rarely mentioned.

Occasionally, Datura stramonium intoxications can also prove fatal.
People who smoked asthma cigarettes often reported “undesired” side effects, namely, “dreams with sexual overtones”. The medical literature also contains accounts of such erotic effects.

Effects

Source: Christian Rätsch: The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants

Sources