THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF B03IBAY. 25 



the term ^'SOT5^rr5=(Krishna-Dhattura)= Black Datura. It bears 

 purple or violet flowers, single or double. Note, however, that the 

 purple or violet colour is seen here and there on stems, nodes, and 

 petioles, and oii the outside only, of the single and double-flowered 

 corollas. The inside of the corolla-tube is pure white, or cream-coloured. 

 There is no Datura flower which is absolutely as black as charcoal. 



I find in Roxburgh's Flora Indica (p. 188, Carey's Calcutta Ed.), 

 that Ramphius gives D. rubra as a synonym of D. fastuosa of 

 Willdenow. Moreover I find in Dr. Norman Chevers' Med. Juris- 

 prudence (p. 179, Calcutta Ed., 1870) that the purple species named in 

 Sanskrit as Krishna-Dluattiira is known in Bengal as kdld/i.Q.^ black 

 Datura, or as Idl, i.e., red Datura. In Western India, especially in the 

 Konkan from where I am writing this paper, the kdld Datura means 

 the purple or violet variety. The red variety is unknown here. At 

 least, I have not seen it, in the town and island of Bombay, in Salsette, 

 in the Satara District (Dekkan), nor in the very heart of the Konkan 

 — namely Ratnagiri District. [ have been in the Ratnagiri District 

 since 15th May 1898, examining the local flora. I have found no red- 

 flowered variety of Datura. 



The third variety of Datura mentioned in old Sanskrit works 

 such as Raja-Nighanta, Bhava-Prakasha and others is named a5T^=^ 

 {Rdja Dhattura) — the Royal Datura. Probably this included the double- 

 flowered varieties in the olden days when the Sanskrit writers saw the 

 plants actually growing before them. Under the common head TM^''^ 

 {Rdja Dhattura) are included Datura plants which bear white, bluish, 

 purple or violet, yellow, or red flowers. I give the Sanskrit terms 

 seriatim indicative of these colours, as follows : — 



1. Rt^T (Sita)— White, single and double-flowered. 



2. RT^ (Nila)— Blue or dark blue. Note that this Sanskrit word 

 signifies blue or dark-blue in relation to animals, plants, clouds, minerals, 

 etc. From this appellation the Teluga name Nalia-Ummite appears to 

 be derived ; and thence the name Nilhummatu of those European writers 

 who studied the plant on the Malabar Coast where Telugu is spoken. 

 This is probably the same as the following variety :— 



3. ^cq- (Krishna)— Purple or violet-flowered variety. This is the 

 same, I think, as Krishna-Dhattura— Datura fastuosa mentioned above, 

 or perhaps, the double-flowered variety of it. 



4 



