NIGHTSHADE FAMILY 



SOLANACEAE 



JIMSON WEED 



Datura Stramonium L. 



The juices of this plant have a rather disagreeable odor and 

 contain a poisonous substance which is the source of a valuable 

 narcotic medicine. Rather serious results have been produced 



by holding the cut stem of 

 a flower in the mouth. 



The Jimson Weed is a 

 tropical plant which prob- 

 ably came originally from 

 India but which has become 

 naturalized in this country 

 from Nova Scotia to Florida 

 and west to Minnesota and 

 Texas. It is often found 

 growing around and effec- 

 tively hiding old rubbish 

 heaps or neglected barn- 

 yards, but it is also a fre- 

 quent weed in cultivated 

 fields. It is an annual whose 

 stout smooth stem grows 

 1-5 feet high and branches 

 considerably. 



The large white flowers 

 are produced from June to 

 September. They open at 

 evening and close atter the 

 sun comes out next day, being pollinated largely by night-flying 

 hawk moths. There are 5 stamens attached near the middle of 

 the corolla tube, and a single pistil with a slender style. The truit 

 is a capsule and contains a very large number of seeds. 



The much more common Purple Jimson Weed, Datura Tatula L., 

 is very similar except that its stem, also 1-5 feet tall, is purple, com- 

 monly more slender and usually a little more hairy. The leaves too 

 are like those of the Jimson Weed but are darker green or with a tinge 

 of purple. The corolla is lavender to purple or the tube may be nearly 

 white. This plant is also an immigrant from the tropics. The fruits 

 of both species are burlike but will not stick to anything. The longer 

 prickles of the Purple Jimson Weed truit are nearly equal. 



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