The infamous Datura Plant.

[Vetch]

I wonder if it would have any use in other products, such as soap or lotions... If it's poisonous to eat, it's usuallly good for something else.

It's good to look at.  I wouldn't use it in skin products as the compounds can get absorbed through the skin. There is a transdermal patch that uses a very small, controlled amount of datura alkaloids (scopalamine) to prevent sea-sickness.  Not a DYI project.

[1frozenhillbilly]

ok i have a question.  once upon a time i was told that datura and jimson weed were the same plant then i was told that moon flower was not the same as jimson weed now i hear that moon flower is the same as datura,  i'm confused, could some of you botanists help an old cow puncher out please

[Jessaboo]

Hillbillly -

The problem is in the "common" names which change from place to place and person to person.

I, too have heard Datura called all three names that you have. I can tell you that I have never heard another plant besides Datura called jimsonweed but I have heard several flowers also called moonflower - including Brugmansia (very like a Datura) and Ipomeas (also called morning glory except this one blooms in the evening - hence the moonflower moniker!) Sorry if the spellings are wrong - I don't have my books with me right now!

I have also heard both Datura and Brugmansia called Angel's Trumpet.

Don't know if that actually clarified or clouded things but that's my 2 cents!

- Jess

[reinbeau]

Hillbillly -

The problem is in the "common" names which change from place to place and person to person.

You are so correct!  Common names drive me crazy when talking with anyone who only uses common names. 

I, too have heard Datura called all three names that you have. I can tell you that I have never heard another plant besides Datura called jimsonweed but I have heard several flowers also called moonflower - including Brugmansia (very like a Datura) and Ipomeas (also called morning glory except this one blooms in the evening - hence the moonflower moniker!) Sorry if the spellings are wrong - I don't have my books with me right now!

First off, Datura and Brugmansias are related, but different.  Daturas point 'up' (which is why they are referred to as Devil's Trumpets).  Brugs hang 'down'. 

The 'moonflower' moniker is given to some other plants, too, but Datura and Ipomoeas are the two usually called moonflower. 

I have also heard both Datura and Brugmansia called Angel's Trumpet.

Or Devil's Trumpet, probably the Brugs are the Angel's.

ok i have a question.  once upon a time i was told that datura and jimson weed were the same plant then i was told that moon flower was not the same as jimson weed now i hear that moon flower is the same as datura,  i'm confused, could some of you botanists help an old cow puncher out please

Don't worry, it all comes out in the wash! 

Jimson weed and some Moonflowers are actually Datura.  Vining moonflowers are most likely Ipomoeas, a member of the morning glory family.  Stick to the botanical names and you won't be confused (hopefully).

[Jessaboo]

P.S. -

Just got back from a short trip to upstate NY where I picked up a copy of a book called This Noble Harvest by Anne Ophelia Dowden (1979). It calls Datura stramonium "thorn apple" (I had forgotten about that one) and says the following:

"Belladonna, thorn apple, and henbane are such plants - all extremely poisonous, and all belonging to the same family as tomato, potato, and tobacco. Their leaves roots, and seeds contain the narcotic alkaloids atropine and hyoscyamine, which work on the central nervous system....In modern medicine, henbane is an ingredient in the drug that produces 'twilight sleep' in childbirth; and most wartime brain-washing involved hyoscyamine, plus scopalomine (from another plant of the same family*) and morphine or a barbiturate. The scientific name Hysocyamus means "hog-bean" because swine are supposed to eat it safely. It stupefies other animals, and its seeds, with those of thorn apple, were sometimes mixed with the fodder of horses and cows in the hope that placid animals would gain weight more quickly. Thorn apple boiled in hog's grease, was widely used for burns and inflammations, and Parkinson approves it as a drink for 'one that is to have a legge or an arme cut off.' It is often called jimsonweed in the United States because it was first introduced near Jamestown, Virginia. Though this plant came to us from Europe, a similar species is native to South America, where Incas used it as an anesthetic, and a Colombian tribe gave it to wives and slaves before burying them alive with dead warriors."

* the asterisk is mine - I don't know why she doesn't say scopalomine can come from datura, but it can.

Hope you all find this as interesting as I did!