NIGHTSHADE FAMILY 



457 



from the axis into the middle of the cells and connecting with the walls by a parti- 

 tion imperfect at the top and thus forming a falsely 4-celled ovary and capsule. 

 — As to herbage or seeds or both the species are more or less poisonous. — Species 15, 

 aU continents. (The Hindoo name, dhatura). 



Calyx not prismatic; corolla large (5% to 9 inches long), its limb 3 to 6 inches wide; capsule 

 nodding on the short recurved pedicel, bursting irregularly, the calyx-run rotate; seeds 



light-colored, flat, smoothish, with a cord-like margin; perennial 1. D. meteloides. 



Calyx prismatic; corolla small (2 to 5% inches long), its limb 1 to 2 inches wide; capsule defi- 

 nitely 4-valved, the calyx-rim reflexed; seeds dark-colored or black, finely rugose and 

 roughly pitted; annual. 

 Capsule nodding, globose, tomentulose or pubescent, the stout prickles pubescent or gla- 



brate 2. D. discolor. 



Capsule erect, ovoid, glabrous 3. D. tatula. 



1. D. meteloides DC. Tolguacha. 

 (Fig. 448.) Erect branching plant, 2 to 

 5 feet higla; herbage glaucescent; calyx 

 with 5 lanceolate teeth; corolla white, 

 tinged with violet or fading lavender, 5I/2 

 to 9 inches long, its limb 3 to 6 inches 

 wide, provided with 5 slender teeth I/2 to 

 % inch long ; anthers white, 6 lines long; 

 capsule globose, 1 inch long, densely 

 prickly, indefinitely valved or bursting 

 irregularly, its spines short, lYo to 3 lines 

 long, dilated and pubescent at base. 



Introduced from northern Mexico, 

 sandy valley flats or dry hills, 24 to 4000 

 feet: South Coast Ranges; lower Sacra- 

 mento Valley ; San Joaquin Valley ; Inyo 

 Co. ; Mohave Desert ; cismontane South- 

 ern California; Colorado Desert. East to 

 Texas, south to Mexico and northern 

 South America. June-Oct. 



Immigration note. — The date of entry of 

 Datura meteloides into cismontane California, 



doubtless from northern Mexico, where it is native, is uncertain. It was not, apparently, collected 

 by any of the expeditions between 1789 and 1850, nor is there any collection known to the writer 

 prior to 1853, that at Fort Miller, Fresno Co. (Pac. E. Hep. 5^:13). Since its occurrence in the 

 Coast Range Valleys and Great Valley fifty to seventy years ago was characteristically associated 

 with rich deep soils about old Spanish settlements and Mexican ranches, its introduction doubtless 

 antedates the American occupation of California. The plant was sacred in certain religious rites 

 of the native tribes, the whole plant being ground up and mixed with water to form a drink, the 

 active poison of which produced delirium or even death. The essential principle was also used 

 medicinally as an anodyne. It is therefore possible, by reason of tribal usage, that introduction 

 may have been much earlier, that is, prior to the Spanish settlement of California. Of the ver- 

 nacular name, Tolguacha, Charles F. Lummis, the distinguished student of anthropology and 

 linguistics of the Spanish Southwest, writes: "The word is Toloache, derived from the Aztec name 

 of the Datura, and in its Spanish form is a familiar provincialism of the Mexican states of Chi- 

 huahua and Coahuila and is common among the Indians and Mexicans of California" (Feb. 27, 

 1905, in Jepson Corr. 4:277. ms.) 



The flowers open about nine o'clock in the evening and remain open during the next morning. 

 Individual plants may become very large. In Surprise Canon, Panamint Eange, the writer in 

 May, 1917, measured a plant 8 feet high and 4 feet broad, displaying flowers freely all over its 

 periphery. Proterogyny in this species has been described by J. Schneck (Bot. Gaz. 12 : 223-224). 



Logs. — South Coast Ranges: Peachtree Valley, San Benito Co., Jepson; San Miguel, Salinas 

 Valley, Jepson 20,151. Great Valley: Lagoon Valley, w. Solano Co., Jepson 21,263; Mossdale 

 School, San Joaquin River, San Joaquin Co., Jepson 8335; Manteca, Jepson 7718; La Grange, 

 Stanislaus Co., Jepson 21,264; Friant, Fresno Co., Jepson; Kingsburg, Jepson; Lemon Cove, 

 Tulare Co., Jepson; Visalia, Jepson; DevUs Den road sta., Kern Co., Jepson 12,171. Inyo Co.: 

 Hauaupah Canon, Panamint Eange, Jepson 6946; Shadscalo Spr., Johnson Caiion, Panamint 



Fig. 448. Datura meteloides DC. a, fl. 

 branchlet; b, fr. X %. 



