from the seeds and leaves ceremonially to induce visions. 
Amongst some Mexican Indians, toloache is considered an 
hallucinogen inhabited, unlike peyote, by a malevolent spirit 
(Hoffman, 1968). 
In the Old World, Datura never was used so ceremonially as 
in the New World. The most important species in the Eastern 
Hemisphere is D. Mete/ L. mentioned as a drug called jouzma- 
thel in the 11th Century by the Arabian physician Avicenna. In 
China, it was considered sacred: when Buddha preached, heaven 
sprinkled the plant with drops of dew or rain. Today, Datura 
seeds are frequently mixed with tobacco or Cannabis to be 
smoked. A less important Old World species, D. ferox L., is 
widely employed in parts of Africa (Safford 1920, 1921). 
The active principles of all species of Datura are tropane 
alkaloids. They vary in relative concentrations from species to 
species. D. Stramonium seeds, for example, contain about 0.4% 
of alkaloid, consisting mainly of hyoscyamine with a small 
amount of scopolamine and minute amounts of atropine (Claus 
and Tyler 1967). In D. Metel, the following total alkaloids are 
reported: in fruits, 0.12%; leaves 0.2-0.5%; roots 0.1—-0.2%; seeds 
0.2-0.5%; the main component is scopolamine, with the minor 
alkaloids meteloidine, hyoscyamine, norhyoscyamine, norsco- 
polamine, as well as two alkaloids not belonging to the tropane 
group—cuscohygrine and nicotine (Schultes and Hofmann 
1973). 
Hyoscyamus L. 
Henbane, a toxic species of the genus, is Hyoscyamus niger L. 
and was once widely cultivated in Europe as a narcotic. It 
entered medieval witches’ brews as an hallucinogenic ingredient 
(Schultes and Hofmann 1979). The psychoactive effects of 
henbane are attributed mainly to scopolamine (Wagner 1969). 
Hyoscyamus comprises about 20 species of Europe, northern 
Africa and southwestern and central Asia. 
Latua Phil. 
A century ago, a spiny shrub of Chile, now known botanically 
as Latua pubiflora (Griseb.) Baill., the only member of an 
endemic genus, was identified as a virulent poison, inducing 
delirium and visual! hallucinations. It was employed by local 
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