256 xci. solanace^ (wright). [Datura* 



8. DATURA, Linn. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 901. 



Calyx long, tubular, 5-ficl or spathaceous, often persistent at the 

 base. Corolla funnel-shaped ; limb plicate ; lobes 5-10, short, broad, 

 often acuminate. Stamens 5, inserted near the base of the corolla- tube, 

 included ; anthers linear, dehiscing longitudinally, sometimes cohering 

 into a tube. Ovary 2-celled, or more or less spuriously 4- celled ; style 

 filiform, dilated and 2-lamellate at the apex. Capsule smooth or spiny, 

 dehiscing by 4 valves or irregularly. — Herbs, shrubs or trees, glabrou& 

 or sparingly hairj^. Leaves alternate, entire or coarsely toothed. 

 Flowers solitary, large, white, pinkish or yellow, erect or cernuous. 



Species about 12, widely dispersed through the temperate and warmer regions of 

 loth hemispheres. 



Capsule cernuous, spiny, dehiscing irregularly. 



Plant pubescent. Corolla 10-toothed . . .1. D. Metel. 



Plant glabrous or nearly so. Corolla 5-6-toothed . 2. D.fastuosa. 

 Capsule erect, 4-valved. 



Capsule smooth . . . . . . 3. D. inermis. 



Capsule spiny . . . . . . . 4. D. Stramonium. 



1. D. Metel, Linn. Sp. PL ed. 1, 179. Stem erect, 3-4 ft. high, 

 herbaceous, terete, subdichotomous, densely pubescent. Leaves solitary 

 or the upper geminate, ovate, entire or repand-dentate, up to 8 in. long 

 and 4 in. broad, densely pubescent on both surfaces, generally glandular. 

 "Flowers axillary, shortly pedicellate, at first erect, finally cernuous. 

 Calyx tubular, 3 in. long, slightly pubescent ; teeth 5, unequal, 

 triangular-oblong. Corolla white, nearly twice as long as the calyx ; 

 limb 10-toothed. Filaments glabrous ; anthers erect, white. Ovary 

 muricate. Capsule globose, pendulous, spiny, dehiscing irregularly. — 

 Dunal in DC. Prodr. xiii. i. 543 ; Bot. Mag. t. 1440 ; Sendt. in Mart. 

 Fl. Bras. x. 162 ; Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 276. D. guayaquilensis, 

 H.B. & K. Nov. Gen. et Sp. iii. 8; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. ser. 2, 

 t. 380. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, JBoivin ! Sierra Leone : Regent, Scott-Elliot , 

 4107 ! French Guinea : Farana, by the River Niger, Scott-Elliot, 5387 ! 



Nile Land. Soudan : Khartoum, Petherick ! Kordofan, Pfund, 285 1 

 Darfur, Pfund, 46 ! British East Africa : Nairobi, Elliot, 82 ! 



Cosmopolitan in the tropics ; probably originally from South Tropical America. 



2. D. fastuosa, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, 932. Annual. Stem erect. 

 4-5 ft. high, branched, dark purple with scattered white spots. Leaves 

 up to 8 in. long and 2 in. broad, the upper sometimes geminate, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, sinuate or repand-dentate, unequal at the base, 

 glabrous on both surfaces. Flowers erect. Calyx tubular, 2 in. long; teeth 

 5, triangular- lanceolate, acuminate. Corolla white inside, violet outside, 

 5-6 -plicate, folds long-cuspidate. Anthers linear, purplish. Capsule spiny, 

 pendulous, dehiscing irregularly. — Dunal in DC. Prodr. xiii. i. 542 ; Wight, 

 Ic. t. 1396; Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 276; Sendtn. in Mart. Fl. Bras, 

 x. 162 ; C. B. Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 242 ;Peters,Reise Mos- 



