DATURA STRAMONIUM, 
thither. The plant has handsome flowers, sometimes four 
inches long. It has been cultivated for its beautiful blossoms, 
although it has an unpleasant narcotic smell. Children yet 
use them for garlands by forming strings of the flowers within 
each other. 
Datura Srramonium is now become a noxious weed, in- 
festing fields, &c. It is commonly met with near houses, 
along the roads, in commons, old fields, &c., and never in 
woods or mountains. It is found in all the States, also in 
Canada, Mexico, and in South America. In the Southern 
States it blossoms from May to September, and in the North- 
ern States from July to October. It rises about two feet in 
height, with a round stem, branching and dichotomous above, 
spreading, and leafy. The leaves are large, rising from the 
forks of the stem on long round petioles, of a dark-green color 
on the upper surface, and pale beneath, irregularly ovate-tri- 
angular in figure, sinuated and unequal at the base. The 
flowers are large, axillary, and solitary, on short erect pedun- 
cles. The calyx is about two inches in length, tubular, pen- 
tangular, and five-toothed. The corolla longer, of a white 
color, funnel-shaped and plaited, with the filaments, which 
support oblong, flat anthers, adhering to the tube, and the 
style filiform, terminated with a thick club-shaped stigma. 
When the corolla and its included parts drop, the calyx also 
separates, except the base, which remains, and becoming reflex _ 
enlarges with the receptacle as a support to the fruit. The 
fruit is a large, fleshy, ovate-roundish four-cornered capsule, 
beset with sharp, awl-shaped spines, four-celled at the base, 
two-celled at the apex, and psa of a ee escume’ of 
reniform compressed seeds. i 
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES. 
Datura Srrawonive has a narcotic, fetid odor, producing 
headache ; a bitterish nauseous taste, and gives to the saliva 
a deep. green tinge when chewed. The analysis of Promaite | 
gives as the components of Thorn-Apple, gummy extractive __ 
a sects 6, chlorophyll 64, albumen 15, resin 12, and © 
te of lime and magnesia 23-178 parts. According 
Ov fedechicrs( (Dissertatio Medica de Stramonii Usa, &c., L ae 
sal, Ste of ammonia) and resin, a volatile matter (cart 
ammonia), and a narcotic principle which has late 
rtained to be an alkaline salt. tae obtained 
