In the Valley of Sibundoy, most of the Daturas be- 
long to the species Datura candida (Pers.) Saff., though 
D. sanguinea R. & P. is also present. They are much 
planted by the natives for ornament in hedge rows, in 
house yards and in the multi-purpose gardens; and the 
abundance of huge, white flowers which appear four 
times annually make them the principal visual focal point 
everywhere. Containing atropine and hyoscyamine, these 
borracheras (‘inebriants’) have been used variously by the 
natives both as psychotropic and medicinal preparations. 
While one of the cultivars, ‘Buyés’, is frequently seen 
throughout the inhabited parts of the Valley, most of 
the cultivars are encountered only very infrequently. So 
far as [am aware, the unique Daturas of the Valley were 
not known to outsiders until Hernando Garcia- Barriga 
found them in 1985. 
Frequent suggestions that the Sibundoy tree Daturas 
are infected by viruses has focused attention on this as a 
major cause of the peculiar leaves by which several of the 
cultivars are recognized (8, 22, 85, 36). However, early 
in the course of my thirteen months of observations in the 
Valley in 1962-68, I realized that each cultivar is geneti- 
cally distinet, quite apart from the possible influence of 
viruses on the leaves. Differences among the cultivars 
which I believe to be genetic lie in the morphology of the 
flowers and fruit, in the incidence of chromosomal inver- 
sions and in the amount of aborted pollen. Some of the 
unique leaves are also reflections of genetic uniqueness 
and not of virus infection. In recognition of ethnomedi- 
cal, pharmacologic, chemical and phytopathologic inter- 
est in the Sibundoy tree Daturas, an important objective 
of my study has been to understand their morphologic 
and cytologic variability, to distinguish among them, 
and to define them. 
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