DATURA 



STRAMONIUM 



POISONOUS PLANTS 



Doubtfully 

 Indigenous. 



The White- 

 and the 

 Purple- 

 flowered 

 Forms. 



Temperate 

 and Tropical 

 Forms. 



Ancient 

 Knowledge. 



Criminal Uses. 



Medicinal Form. 



Temperate 

 Form. 



dhustura or dhattura and unmatta mean " insane," and hence might have been 

 given to an introduced plant (on its properties being recognised) ; in fact might 

 be upheld as not necessarily involving an ancient knowledge. The better known 

 vernacular names are either derived from the above or have meanings in the 

 languages to which they belong that denote the well-known properties of the 

 drug. As met with in India the species of *n- have the appearance of 

 introduced plants. They frequent waste lands near human dwellings or invade 

 the borders of fields or cover abandoned cultivation. They do not exist as 

 individual plants that take their own positions in a blended vegetation, but ap- 

 pear as invading cohorts and here and there become so abundant as to exter- 

 minate all other plants. No form of Datura exists, in fact, under such conditions 

 as to justify the emphatic opinion that it is indigenous to India. 



It is customary to read of " the white-flowered datura " and of " the purple- 

 flowered kala-datura " as if these conditions implied specific distinctions. Not 

 only so but many writers affirm that the purple-flowered form is a more deadly 

 poison than the white, but that belief doubtless rests mainly on the theory of 

 signatures. Any of the Indian forms may have white or purple flowers, may 

 have single or double flowers, and may have thorny or smooth fruits. How far 

 the chemical properties of these plants are affected by cultivation, by soil or by 

 climate, it is at present impossible to discover. One thing, however, is certain, 

 that the Daturas have been, and to some extent are still, cultivated plants, so 

 that the differences recognised between the so-called wild plants of one region 

 and of another may be due to their being more recent escapes from a special 

 cultivation. Possibly all the Indian forms constitute but one or at most t\vo 

 species, o. stm inoini might be called the type of the temperate and alpine 

 series and . fastnofia that of the tropical assemblage. 



But if the Daturas are only introduced plants, their properties have in India 

 been fully understood for many centuries. The account published by Garcia 

 de Orta in Goa during 1563 of the criminal uses to which they are put, might be 

 reprinted as a statement of the nefarious practices of to-day. So also the in- 

 vestigations of the Hemp Drugs Commission might be summarised as the dis- 

 covery that if taken in moderation bhang is harmless, but when mixed with 

 Datura, that intoxicant becomes most reprehensible and even dangerous to life. 

 Moreover the seeds are known to enter into the composition of certain alcoholic 

 beverages and render the consumers of these literally mad. Some years ago I 

 witnessed a remarkable process of making arak (country spirit) potent. A few 

 seeds of Datura were burned on a charcoal fire, an empty earthen pot was held 

 the while over the fumes. When full of smoke arak was poured into the jar, 

 the result being its adulteration with the active principle of Datura in a form 

 that would most likely escape detection by any ordinary process of examina- 

 tion (see Spirits, p. 1047). The extent to which Datura seeds are used 

 criminally in India can be readily judged of by the perusal of the annual reports 

 of the medical examiners to the various Governments and Administrations of 

 India. These literally teem with particulars of Datura-poisoning. 



The following particulars of the chief forms may assist in their 

 recognition : 



Datura fastuosa, Linn. ; Hummatu, Rheede, I.e. 47. The kala 

 dhaturd, khunuJc, toradana, udah-dhaturd, Jcaru-umate, nalla-ummetta, Jcechu- 

 bang, etc., etc. A small shrub found all over the tropical parts of India ; the 

 most common and abundant species. The capsule is retained in a nodding 

 attitude and opens irregularly near the apex. There are said to be several 

 recognisable varieties of which D. alba, Nees (the safed-dhatura) is 

 that most frequently mentioned and most highly approved medicinally. 

 It has the flowers often creamy- white, but is doubtfully separable from 

 the type. 



D. Metel, Linn. This is found chiefly on the N.W. Himalaya and 

 the mountains of the Deccan. 



D. Stramonium, Linn. Is met with on the temperate Himalaya 

 from Baluchistan and Kashmir to Sikkim. The capsule is erect and 

 deeply four-valved. This seems far more likely to be the white Datura 



488 



