490 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Datura. — Linn, 



Calyx large, tubular, ventricose, 5-angled, 5-cleft above ; segments caducous ; base 

 peltate, persistent. Corolla infundibuliform, plaited, 5-toothed, 5-angled. Stamens 5, 

 equal. Style filiform. Stigma bi-lamellar. Capsule smooth or spinous, ovate, 2-celled ; 

 cells 2 or more parted by large dissepiments. Seeds numerous. 



A small genus of mostly suffruticose or large herbaceous plants, with 

 alternate leaves, and solitary, lateral flowers. They are principally natives 

 of Asia, but one species is now naturalized in Europe and America. There 

 is some confusion in the species, some writers considering as distinct what 

 others regard as mere varieties. They are possessed of active properties, 

 though one only is recognised as officinal. 



D. stramonium, Linn. — Stem dichotomous. Leaves ovate, sinuate-angular, smooth, 

 acute. Capsules erect, spinous, ovate. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 255; Woodville, ii. 197, t. 74; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot., 

 i. 17 ; Stephenson and Churchill, i. 6 ; Flor. Med., vi. 332 ; Lindley, Flor. 

 Med. 510. 



Common Names. — Thorn-apple ; Jamestown Weed ; Jimson, &c. 



Foreign Names. — Pomme epineuse, Fr. ; Stramonia, It. ; Steckapful, 

 Ger. 



Fig. 218. Description. — Stem 



erect, smooth, round, of 

 a yellowish-green colour, 

 dichotomous above, cy- 

 lindrical, often hollow. 

 Leaves alternate at the 

 forks, ovate, sinuated and 

 toothed; base decurrent, 

 dark-green above, paler 

 beneath ; on long, cylin- 

 drical footstalks. Flow- 

 ers large, erect, of a 

 white or purplish colour, 

 proceeding singly, on 

 short peduncles, from the 

 axils of the branches. The 

 calyx is monosepalous, 

 tubular, with 5 angles 

 and 5 teeth, the latter- of 

 which are deciduous, but 

 leaving a persistent rim 

 at base. Corolla long, 

 monopetalous ; limb 5- 

 plaited and 5-toothed. 



Stamens 5, the filaments adhering to the tube, and supporting oblong, erect anthers. 



Ovary free, but coherent at base with the persistent base of the calyx, oval, hairy. 



Style filiform, bearing an obtuse bi-lamellar stigma. Capsule large, ovate, thorny, 2- 



celled, with 2 or more large dissepiments. Seeds numerous, reniform. 



It is very uncertain where the Datura was originally native. It certainly 

 appears indigenous to America, but was first introduced into Europe from Tur- 

 key. It was brought from Constantinople by Lord Zouch, in 1597, and by 

 the writers of that period called " Thorny Apple of Peru ;" yet Garcias says, 

 " nascitur in Malabar," and Thunberg found it in Japan. Dr. Wallich also 

 detected a variety in Nepaul. The native name in India is Dhetoora, so that 



D. stramonium. 



