STRAMONIUM. 413 



STRAMONIUM. 



DATURA. 



SOLANE^E. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Called also Thorn-apple. French, stramonie ; la pomme epineuse ; 

 herbe aux sorciers ; herbe des magiciens [both signifying conjurors'- 

 wort] ; endormie [sleeper] ; herbe du diable [devil's-wort] ; pomme 

 du diable [devil's-apple] ; herbe a la taupe [mole- wort] : noix metelle 

 [metel-nut] ; which last properly belongs to the datura metel. Italian, 

 datura ; porno spinoso [thorny-apple] ; stramonio ; noce metella. 



SOME few of the Stramoniums require the protection of 

 a stove : the other kinds are usually raised in a hot-bed. 

 The Purple Stramonium is the handsomest : the flowers 

 are purple on the outside, and of a satiny white within ; 

 and blow in July. The double-flowered varieties are the 

 most esteemed. 



The Stramonium is one of the plants commonly connected 

 with witchcraft, death, and horror. Harte, describing the 

 plants growing about the Palace of Death, says 



" Nor were the nightshades wanting, nor the power 

 Of thorn'd stramonium, nor the sickly flower 

 Of cloying mandrakes, the deceitful root 

 Of the monk's fraudful cowl*, and Plinian fruit t-" 



* Monk's-hood. t Amomum Plinii. 



