SOLANACEJE. XXVI. Datura. 
usually inclosed. Stigma 2-lobed. Capsule coriaceous, succu- 
lent, 2-celled, 4-valved, many-seeded. ^ Placentas septiform, 
free. Seeds reniform—Poisonous annual herbs. Flowers 
alar, solitary, white, or violaceous. 
Secr. I. Srraménium (a syncope of erpvxvov.pavwov, the 
Greek name for the madapple; given to this plant on account 
of the fruit being the size of a small apple.) Limb of calyx 
acutely 5-angled, and acutely 5-lobed, or 5-toothed at apex, 
tubular. Margin of corolla acutely 5-angled, or 5-toothed. 
Stamens inclosed ; anthers remote. Capsule erect, ovate, 2- 
celled at apex, but 4-celled beneath the apex, (but in D. 
discolor 2-celled at the base,) dehiscing regularly. Seeds com- 
pressed, black, opaque, wrinkled.—Herbaceous annual plants. 
Leaves ovate, toothed. Flowers oblique. 
§ 1. Corollas purplish outside, and white inside. 
1 D. p»rscoron (Bernhardi, in Linnea, 8. p. 138.) leaves 
sharply and sinuately toothed, clothed with hoary down beneath ; 
capsule 2-celled, muricated with prickles. (5. H. Native of 
the West Indies. Stramónium americanum minus, Alkekengi 
folio, Tourn. inst. p. 119.  Boerh. ind. 1. p. 261. Stramónium 
Curassavica humilior, hyocyami folio, Herm. par. bat. p. 233, 
with a figure. 
Two-coloured-flowered Thorn-apple. 
§ 2. 
2 D. ix auis (Jacq. hort. vind. 3. p. 44. t. 82.) leaves ovate, 
angularly toothed, glabrous; capsule smooth, unarmed. ©. 
H. Native of Abyssinia. D. levis, Lin. suppl. 146. Willd. 
spec. 1. p. 1009. Stramónium lze ve, Moench, meth. p. 456. 
Unarmed-capsuled Thorn-apple. Fl. June, Sept. Clt. 1780. 
Pl. 2 feet. 
3 D. rE'nox (Lin. amen. 3. p. 403.) leaves ovate, angularly 
toothed, cuneiform at the base, glaucous ; capsule furnished with 
unequal prickles: the upper prickles large and erect. ©. H. 
Native of Cochinchina and Nipaul. Mill. dict. no. 4. D. 
Stramónium, f, canéscens, Wall. in Roxb. fl. ind. 2. p. 229. 
Stramünium férox, Zan. hist. ed. Mont. p. 212. t. 162. Mor. 
hist. 3. p. 607. sect. 15. t. 2. f. 4.  Bocc. rar. p. 50. Tourn. 
inst. 119. 
Fierce Thorn-apple. 
feet. 
4 D. Srramonium (Lin. spec. 255.) leaves ovate, angularly- 
toothed, cuneiform at the base, smoothish, green; capsule fur- 
nished with nearly equal sized spines or prickles. ©. H. 
Native of America, but now found almost throughout Europe, 
and north of Asia and Africa, among rubbish, and on dung 
hills, having escaped from gardens; always near the habitation 
of man. Ruiz. et Pav. fl. per. 2. p. 15. Pursh, fl. amer. sept. 
1. p. 141. Smith, engl. bot. t. 1288. Curt. fl. lond. fasc. 6. t. 
17. Svensk. bot. t. 43. Oed. fl. dan. t. 436. Woodv. med. 
bot. 338. t. 124. Hayne, arz. 4. t. 7.  Blackw. off. t. 313. 
Bull. herb. t. 13.  Plenck, off. t. 96.—Sabb. hort. 1. t. 92. 
Stramónium vulgare, Moench, meth. p. 456. Stramónium fce'ti- 
dum, Scop. carn. 2. p. 252. Stramónium vulgàtum, Geertn. 
fruct. 2. p. 243. t. 132.  Stramónium spindsum, Lam. fl. fr. 2. 
p. 256. D. loricata, Sieb. coll. sem. D. pseüdo-stramónium, 
Sieb. herb. mart. 286. D. Capénsis, Hort. Stramónium fructu 
spinoso oblongo, flore albo, Tourn. inst. p. 119.—Hall. helv. no. 
586. D. Turcàrum, Besl. eyst. 3. 2. fol. 12. f. 1. a. Thlapatl, 
Hern. mex. 278, with a figure. 
The leaves of Common Thorn-apple, or Stramonium have a 
disagreeable smell and nauseous taste. Every part of the 
VOL. IV. 
Pl. 2 to 8 feet. 
Corollas while. 
Fl. July, Sept. Clt. 1731. Pl. 2 to 3 
473 
plant is a strong narcotic poison, producing vertigo, torpor, and 
death. Dr. Barton mentions the cases of two British soldiers, 
who ate it by mistake for Chenopodium álbum; one became 
furious, and ran about like a madman; and the other died with 
all the symptoms of tetanus. The best antidote to its effects is 
vinegar. The seeds contain the narcotic principle which per- 
vades the whole plant, but in a more uniform degree than the 
other parts, and hence are more to be depended upon for inter- 
nal use. An excellent analysis of the seeds has been published 
by Mr. Brandes, in Buchner’s repertorium for 1821, and in 
which it is shown that its peculiar properties depend upon a 
peculiar alkaloid called Daturia. 
Dr. Stoerk first tried Stramonium as a remedy in mania and 
melancholia with considerable success. It has also been em- 
ployed in convulsive and epileptic affections. Dr. Barton of 
Philadelphia gives it in powder, beginning with doses of a few 
grains, and increasing them in some days to the extent of 15 to 
20 grains, In a case in which it was exhibited to the extent of 
30 grains it dilated the pupil of one eye, and produced paralysis 
of the eyelids, which was removed by a blister. Hufeland 
gave it in the form of a tincture prepared of two ounces of the 
seeds in four ounces of wine, and one of diluted alcohol, in 
diseases of the mind. The inspissated juice of the leaves has 
been most commonly used, but its exhibition requires the great- 
est caution. At first a quarter of a grain is a sufficient dose. 
An ointment prepared from the leaves has been said to give ease 
in external inflammations and hemorrhoids. And the bruised 
leaves, according to Plenck, soften hard, inflamed tumours. 
The smoke of Stramónium has been much extolled for the 
cure of asthma. Its use in this manner has been derived from 
the East Indies, where, however, other species of Datüra are 
employed. It is the root and lower part of the stem which’is 
used in this way. This is dried quickly, and cut into slips, and 
used in the manner of tobacco. "The smoke excites a sense of 
heat in the chest, followed by copious expectoration, and some- 
times attended with temporary vertigo and drowsiness. In 
some cases a perfect cure is effected, but more commonly the 
relief is only temporary. Dr. Marcet, med. chirurg. trans. 7. 
p. 551, used Stramonium in the form of extract, and the result 
of his. experience is, that the most common effect of it, when 
administered in appropriate doses from 1 to 1 grain, in cases of 
chronic disease, attended with acute pain, is to lessen power- 
fully, and almost immediately, sensibility and pain; and it 
almost always excites those symptoms which are produced by 
intoxication. 
Stramonium, or Common Thorn-apple. Fl. 
Britain. Pl. 2 to 3 feet. 
5 D. trare zra (Nees, in Lin. trans. 17. p. 74.) leaves ovate, 
trapezoid, acute, repandly-toothed, and are, as well as the stem, 
downy; fruit furnished with nearly equal spines or prickles. 
©. H. Native of the East Indies, on the banks of the Irra- 
waddy, Gomez. D. Stramónium, Wall. cat. suppl. no. 278. 
Trapezoid-leaved Thorn-apple. Pl. 2 to 3 feet. 
July, Sept. 
§ 3. Corollas violaceous. Stems purplish. 
6 D. Ta’ruta (Lin. spec. 256. Mill. dict. no. 2. Sweet, fl. 
gard. t. 83.) leaves cordate-ovate, angularly toothed, unequal at 
the base, glabrous; capsule furnished with nearly equal spines 
or prickles. ©. H. Native of America, but has now become 
naturalized in almost all the places along with D. Stramónium, 
but is less frequent. Pursh, fl. amer. sept. 1. p. 141. Stra- 
mónium Tátula, Moench, meth. p. 456. Stramónium fructu 
spinoso oblongo, flore purpureo, Tourn. inst. p. 119. 
Tatula, or Purple Thorn-apple. Fl. July, Sept. 
Pl. 2 to 3 feet. 
Cit. 1629. 
