DATURAS — SAFFORD. 



559 



brance; for if such a thing should happen to any of them, they must imme- 

 diately be huskanawed again ; and the second time, the usage is so severe, that 

 seldom any one escapes with life. Thus they must pretend to have forgot the 

 very use of their tongues, so as not to be able to speak, nor understand anything 

 that is spoken, till they learn it again. Now, whether this be real or counter- 

 feit, I don't know ; but certain it is, that they will not for some time take 

 notice of any body, nor anything with which they were before acquainted, 

 being still under the guard of their keepers, who constantly w r ait upon them 

 everywhere till they have learnt all things perfectly over again. Thus they 

 unlive their former lives, and commence men by forgetting that they ever 

 have been boys. 28 



The Jamestown weed and its close allies form a distinct group 

 differing from all other Daturas in having erect capsules which split 

 open regularly into four parts, as shown on plate 6. They vary con- 

 siderably in the color of the stems and flowers and in the thorniness 

 of the capsules. Specimens of the " thorny apple of Peru." were 

 grown from seed collected by Dr. J. N. Rose in South America. The 

 plants grew vigorously at Washington, but 

 the flowers were smaller than in our own 

 Datura stramonium, with the purple- 

 flowered form of which (Datura stramo- 

 nium tatula) it proved botanically iden- 

 tical. The smooth-fruited form has been 

 separated from the type under the name 

 Datura inermis, but both the spiny and 

 the smooth forms shown in figure 8 grew 

 from seeds of the same plant. Attention 

 is called to the form of the corolla, as 

 shown in figure 8, the teeth of which are 

 separated by distinct sinuses, or notches, 

 while in the sacred Datura of the Zuiiis, 

 shown in figure 6b, the corolla teeth alternate with salient obtuse 

 angles, which in the smaller-flowered Datura discolor (pi. 5) are 

 tipped with points giving the flowers the appearance of 10-pointed 

 morning glories. Humboldt and Bonpland collected a (Jwarf oak- 

 leaved Datura (fig. 9) in Mexico, which was described under the 

 name of Datura quercifolia. This species is frequently confused 

 with Datura discolor mentioned above, but is readily distinguished 

 from that species by its notched five-toothed corolla and its erect seed 

 pods. Another closely allied Mexican species of this group is Datura 

 villosa Fernald, characterized by hairy branches, petioles, and calyx. 



AQUATIC TORNA-LOCA OF MEXICO. 

 Figure 10. 



This plant, described in 1800 by Ortega from a specimen of Mexi- 

 can origin growing in the Royal Botanical Garden at Madrid, has 



23 Robert Beverly, History of Virginia, pp. 102-163, 1855. 



Fig. 9. — The oak-leaved James- 

 town weed, Datura querci- 

 folia H. B. K. 



