20 



THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 



By Lieut.-Colonbl K. R. Kirtikar, i.m.s., f.l.s., 



■ Civil Surgeon, Ratnagiri. 



Part XIX. 



(With Plate U.) 



(^Continued from page 623, Vol. XL) 



DATURA FASTUOSA, Linn. 



Natural Order — Solanacbj:. * 



Marathi :— ^^^T {Dhaturd), ^^ {Bhutrd), ^FcT^T (Dhotard.) 



This is a herbaceous, coarse, rank-scented plant, with a colourless 

 juice. Older parts of the plant, glabrous ; younger and growing 

 parts covered with evanescent whitish pubescencej otherwise known as 

 " silvery-down." 



STEM. — it is irregularly zigzag ; 1-2 ft. high, even 4 or 5 ft. some- 

 times ; rather succulent from containing much pith. 



Bark — polished, greenish generally, with a puplish tinge most 

 marked at the nodes ; at times slightly rough either with minute 

 scattered hairs, or when without hairs,, showing scars wherever any 

 hair existed in the early stage of the bark. 



Branches — divaricate ; marked with soars of fallen leaves. 



LEAVES — generally 3 to 6 inches long ; triangular or ovate, but 

 acuminate always, even if rounded. 



Leaf-margin sometimes entire, oftener with a few large 

 lobes ; at times these large lobes have a few coarse short teeth. 

 The leaves appear to the naked eye quite glabrous, but the magnifying- 

 glass often shows a very minute pubescence on the upper as well as the 

 under side of the leaf. The leaves, as a rule, are glaucous-green 

 above, and paler beneath. The Mid-rib is prominent below, with 

 a dash of purple ; so are its main branches. The Veins are pellucid 

 " sinuate and pinnate." The leaves, says Clarke, are '' ovate entire or 

 deeply toothed, glabrous." (Hooker's Fl. Br. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 242). 



PETIOLE — 1-2 inches long. Stipules — absent. 



FLOWERS — hermaphrodite, very large, solitary, erect from the 

 node, but not axillary. Hooker remarks that the flower-buds in early 

 atage are puberulous ; so they are under a magnifying-glass. 

 Peduncles — short stout, purplish, solitary. Bracts — absent. 



