PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. iSl 



persistent. Capsule 4-celled, 4-valvec!, smooth 

 or spiny. 



Herbaceous and annual plants; extremely fetid and nar- 

 cotic, leaves by pairs; flowers solitary, lateral, and dicho- 

 tomal, opening towards sun-set- 



Species. 1. D. stramoniwn. Overrunning- wastes and 

 gardens from the coast of the Atlantic to the sources of 

 the Missouri; but originating- probably in South America^ 

 or in Asia, it is now also naturalized throughout Europe. 



Parkinson in his Paradisius, p. 362, says, that the Datu- 

 ras (including the present species) were brought from 

 Turkey and Kgypt, and that Garcias and Christopher 

 Acosta with others, affirmed that they grew in the East 

 Indies. From Boerhaave, the physician and botraiist, we 

 also learn that the Datura Stramonium is indigenous to 

 the East Indies, and called Datura in the vernacular lan- 

 guage of the country, he also adds, that acquainted with 

 its narcotic properties, the natives sometimes employed 

 it as a poison, 5tc. the same accotmt in part has been re- 

 cently corroborated by the testimony of Colonel Hard- 

 wicke, an interestmg botanical traveller. Has then the 

 Datura Stramonium been introduced into America from 

 India, and by what means? 



Of Datura Persoon enumerates 7 species, forming a 

 distinct genus of the D. arborea under the name o^ Brvg- 

 mansia; of these 7, 1 is indigenous to China, 1 to Egypt, 

 the foetid D. MetelXo Asia, Africa and the Canary islands, 

 the D. lavis to Abyssinia, and the D. cerutacuula to the 

 isle of Cuba, the real habitat of the D. iaiula and the D. 

 jStramotiiiim, can now no longer be ascertained. 



Tne D. Stramonium, lately introduced into medical 

 practice, appears to operate specifically upon the optic 

 nerve when taken in any considerable quanti y, producing 

 A remarkable dilatation of the pupil of the eye, and when 

 taken inadvertently in dangerous quantities, it has been 

 known to induce temporal^ blindness. 



.^01. «YOSCYAMUS. L. (Henbane.) 



Calix tubular, border 5-cIet't. Corolla funnel- 

 form, o-Iobed, iiTegular, lobes obtuse. Stami- 

 na inclined. Stigma capitate. Capsule oper- 

 culate, 2-celled. 



Herbaceous; floral leaves often by pairs; flowers soli- 

 tary, axillary, often inclined to one side of the stem 

 Species. l.II.nijer. Naturalized in Canada and the 



