AMERICAN MEDICINAL FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND SEEDS. 



13 



JIMSON WEED. 



Datura stramonium L. 



Other common names. — Stramonium, Jamestown weed, Jamestown lily, thorn 

 apple, devil' s-apple, devil's-trumpet, mad-apple, apple of Peru, stinkweek, stink, 

 fireweed, dewtry. 



Habitat and range. — Jimson weed is a common plant of fields and waste 

 places, occurring throughout the country, with the exception of the North and 

 West. It is native in the Tropics and widely scattered in nearly all warm 

 countries. 



Description. — This very common, ill-scented weed is a poisonous plant belong- 

 ing to the nightshade 

 family (Solanaceae). It 

 is an annual of rather 

 rank growth, with stout, 

 yellowish green stems 

 about 2 to 5 feet high, 

 much forked and leafy. 

 The thin, smooth leaves 

 are veiny, dark green 

 above and paler green on 

 the under surface, and 

 rather large, measuring 

 from 3 to 8 inches in 

 length ; the apex is point- 

 ed and the margins are 

 irregularly waved and 

 toothed, usually narrow- 

 ing toward the base. 

 Jimson weed produces 

 rather large, showy flow- 

 ers from about May . to 

 September, each measur- 

 ing about 3 inches in 

 length, white and funnel 

 shaped, and having a 

 strong odor. The seed 

 pod consists of a dry, 

 oval, prickly capsule, 

 which when ripe bursts 

 open into four valves con- 

 taining numerous seeds 

 having a disagreeable 

 odor when fresh. The seeds are dull black, about one-sixth of an inch in 

 length, kidney shaped, flattened, wrinkled, and marked with small depressions. 

 (Fig. 10.) 



Collection, uses, and prices. — For the collection of the seeds the capsules 

 should be cut from the plants when fully ripe but still green. These capsules 

 or seed pods should then be dried and after a few days they will burst open, 

 when the seeds can be readily shaken out. The seeds should now be thinly 

 spread out and carefully dried. Jimson weed or stramonium seeds are poison- 

 ous, like the leaves, and are used principally in asthmatic troubles. They bring 

 about 6 to 7 cents a pound. The leaves are also used medicinally and are 

 official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Fig. 10. — Jimson weed (Datura stramonium), leaves, flow- 

 ers, and seed pods. 



