50 



September, and. the fruit ripens from August to November, according 

 to latitude. The seeds are numerous and about the size of a grain of 

 buckwheat. When fresh they are ill- scented and nauseating, but later 

 they are not so disagreeable. The nectar is sweet, but a little nauseat- 

 ing. The jimson weed is native to Europe and Asia, but is now quite 

 commonly introduced in waste grounds about dwellings in all of the 

 States east of Iowa and Louisiana with, perhaps, the exception of 



Minnesota. It is common in east- 

 ern Kansas and Nebraska, in some 

 parts of Colorado, and has prob- 

 ably obtained some foothold in all 

 of the Western States. 



JIMSON WEED. 



Datura tatula L. 



Other names : Jamestown weed ; 

 purple thorn apple ; common stra- 

 monium ; thorn apple; mad apple; 

 stinkroot ; stinkweed. 



Description and habitat. — A 

 somewhat taller plant, with pur- 

 plish flowers and stems, but other- 

 wise practically identical with the 

 preceding, both in botanical and 

 toxic characters. Geographical- 

 ly, it is more abundant toward 

 the South and West than the 

 other. 



Poisonous elements. — The poison- 

 ous alkaloids, atropine and hyos- 

 cy amine, the active constituents 

 of belladonna [Atropa belladon- 

 na), are found also in both of the 



Fig. 30. — Jimson weed (Datura stramonium) : a, 

 flowering spray; h.. fruiting capsule — both, one- 

 third natural size. 



jimson weeds. Hyoscyamine is 

 the poison of the henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), and as it is identical in 

 its physiological action with atropine, the above-named plants present 

 the same symptoms of poisoning, which must be met in the same man- 

 ner. The alkaloids exist in all parts of the two daturas. The seeds are 

 especially poisonous. 



How poisoning is produced. — Oases of poisoning arise in adults from 

 excessive use as a stimulant or as a medicine. Children are sometimes 

 tempted to eat the fruit, if they are permitted to play where the weed 

 is to be found. Several cases of this kind were reported to the Depart- 

 ment during the fall of 1897. At Alpena, Mich., five children were 

 badly poisoned in August by eating the seeds of the purple-flowered 

 species, which was cultivated in a garden as a curiosity under the fan- 



