THORN APPLE 413 



THORN APPLE 



Natural Order Solanace^. Genus Datura 



Datura (supposed to be derived from the Arabic name for the plants— 

 Tdtorah or Datora). A genus of annual herbs, perennial shrubs and 

 trees, with large, lobed leaves and showy flowers. The most distinguish- 

 ing feature is the large tubular calyx, of which the upper part falls off 

 as the fruit ripens, leaving a small portion as a circular rim at the base 

 of the fruit. The funnel-shaped corolla has five folds or plaits. The 

 fruit is four-celled, covered with spines, and splits into four valves. The 

 species are distributed over the warm and Tropical regions of the globe, 

 one, D. Stramonium, being found locally naturalised in this country. 



Daturas are extremely poisonous plants, owing to 

 their containing an alkaline principle called daturin. 

 This principle has been largely used as an anodyne in neuralgia, 

 epilepsy, mania, and the leaves of D. Stramonium have been widely 

 smoked to give relief to sufl'erers from asthma. It is to the early use of 

 this plant in domestic medicine that we probably owe its introduction to 

 this country, so far back that we have no record of it. It occurs in a 

 semi-wild state on rubbish-heaps and waste places on the outskirts of 

 cultivated land. A common Indian species, D. fastuosa, is used by the 

 criminal classes in India and China for stupefying and poisoning. D. 

 Metel was introduced from the Tropics prior to 1596, and D. fastuosa 

 and D. Ta^u^a followed in 1629, the former from the East Indies and 

 the latter from the Continent. D. suaveolens was brought from Mexico 

 in 1733, whilst D. arborea, from Peru, dates as a greenhouse shrub from 

 1813, and D. meteloides, from California, has no longer record than from 

 1856. The shrubby species are known in gardens as Btnigmansias. 



Datura arborea (tree-like). Stem shrubby, branches 

 owny, powdered, 8 to 10 feet high. Leaves elliptic- 

 oblong, downy. Flowers white, 7 or 8 inches long; August. Green- 

 house. Also known as Brugmansia Candida; there is a yellow- 

 flowered variety of it cultivated under the name of D. aurea and D. 

 chlorantha. 



D. fastuosa (proud). Stem downy, 2 to 3 feet high. Leaves oval, 

 toothed, downy.. Flowers white, with a violet tint outside; July. 

 Annual. D. cornucopia is a good variety of this, with large flowers 

 streaked and flaked with violet. 



D. Metel. Stem downy, 2 feet high. Leaves heart-shaped, entire, 



