Dr. Tully on Datura. 255 



I have no hesitation, however, in admitting the inadequa- 

 cy of the distinguishing marks which have been selected by 

 every writer with whom I am acquainted. The erect spi- 

 nous pericarps, the ovate or, if flattened, the cordate and 

 sharply dentate and glabrous leaves are unquestionably com- 

 mon to both the American sorts. Even most of the addi- 

 tional circumstances which are commonly mentioned inci- 

 dentally, are nearly uniform in each. The D. Tatula, although 

 occasionally larger and less slender than the D, Stramonium^ 

 is by no means generally so, nor is there a regular and uni- 

 form appreciable difference (indeed it is scarcely ever to be 

 observed in American specimens,) between the length of 

 the flowers and the turgidness of the perianth of the two 

 sorts; in both, the stalk is generally smooth and divided at 

 an acute angle, the leaves are as sharply dentate and as much 

 sinuated in one as the other, and in some instances they are 

 both attenuated into the petiole, or both, as it were, truncate 

 at the base. In the smaller plants of each sort, the stem is 

 commonly pithy, and in the larger of each, it is hollow. 



The white corol of the one, which verges to a cream col- 

 or, and the pale blue or light purple of the other, striped 

 with deep purple on the inside, are indeed almost always 

 observable, but not sufficiently prominent for distinction; 

 but the purple stalk sprinkled with green points in the one, 

 and the uniform green stalk of the other, I have reason to 

 think, are invariable and permanent. 



I have been many years in the habit of observing the two 

 sorts and noticing this difference, and for ten years at least, 

 I have viewed them closely, in reference to their distinction 

 of species. My observations have been made both where 

 they grew entirely separate, and where they grew together, 

 and I have cultivated them in both situations,wiihout ever be- 

 ing able to discover the least approximation of the one to the 

 other, or to detect any intermediate specimen ; and contra- 

 ry to my expectations, I have never seen, among the plants 

 produced from seeds, and growing together, any evidence of 

 promiscuous impregnation and the production of hybrids. 

 Even in the spring season, the last year's dead and half de- 

 cayed plants of each sort, may always be distinguished with 

 perfect facility. 



In places where only one sort has been common, time 

 immemorial, I have never known the other make its appear- 



