FLOWERING PLANTS AXD FERNS OF ARIZONA 797 



County {Tourney 397). Western New Mexico and Arizona to Oregon 

 and southern California. 



12. Solanum villosum Mill., Gard. Diet. ed. 8, no. 2. 1768. 



Mogollon Escarpment, Coconino County (Collom 945), Paradise, 

 Cochise County (Blumer 1768), Elov, Pinal County, a weed in cotton 

 fields (Peebles 13085) , 1 .400 to 6,800 feet, July to September. Sparingly 

 adventive in the United States; introduced from Europe. 



13. Solanum nigrum L., Sp. PL 186. 1753. 



Solanum interim Rydb., Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 31 : 641. 1904. 



Coconino, Pinal, and Maricopa Counties, 1,000 to 6.000 feet, road- 

 sides, not common, summer. Throughout the United States; probably 

 introduced from Europe. 



8. DATURA, ss Thorxapple 



Coarse, weedlike herbs with ill-scented herbage; stems stout, 

 mostly erect, branched; leaves petioled, the blades large, ovate, 

 repand to pinnately lobed; flowers large and showy, short-peduncled, 

 solitary in the forks of the stem, fragrant ; calyx cylindric or prismatic, 

 5-toothed; corolla funnelform, purple to nearly white; fruit a large, 

 globose or ovoid, normally prickly capsule. 



All parts of the plants are poisonous, containing various alkaloids, 

 notably atropine (daturine). Children as well as horses, cattle, and 

 sheep have been poisoned by D. stramonium, the common jimsonweed. 

 The roots and other parts of D. meteloides are narcotic and are some- 

 times eaten by the Indians, even the children, to induce visions, a 

 dangerous practice. One of the effects is dilation of the pupil of 

 the eye, the effect being similar to that of belladonna. Contact with 

 these plants is reported to cause dermatitis in susceptible persons. 



Key to the species 



1. Fruit erect, regularly dehiscent, 4-valved, ovoid; corolla not more than 10 cm. 

 long, 5-toothed (2). 

 2. Spines of the fruit many, subequal, less than 10 mm. long, relatively slender, 

 sometimes much reduced or wanting; leaf blades repand to coarsely sinu- 

 ate-toothed; corolla 6 cm. long or longer, whitish or purple. 



1. D. STRAMONIUM. 



2. Spines of the fruit relatively few, very unequal, the longer ones more than 



10 mm. long, very stout; leaf blades usually pinnately lobed; corolla not 



more than 6 cm. long, purple 2. D. quercifolia. 



1. Fruit nodding, bursting irregularly, globose or nearly so; leaf blades repand to 

 sinuate-dentate (3). 



3. Corolla broadly funnel-shaped, 5-toothed, 15 to 20 cm. long: herbage canes- 



cent-puberulent ; calyx 8 to 10 (rarely only 6) cm. long; fruit puberulent, 

 not viscid, with slender spines usually less than 1 cm. long; seeds light 



brown when ripe 3. D. meteloides. 



3. Corolla trumpet-shaped, 10-toothed, usually less than 15 cm. long: herbage 

 green, sparsely puberulent; calyx seldom more than 6 cm. long; fruit 

 viscid-pubescent, with relatively stout spines, the longer ones about 

 1 cm. long; seeds black when ripe 4. D. discolor. 



1. Datura stramonium L., Sp. PL 179. 1753. 



Datura taiula L., Sp. PL ed. 2, 256. 1762. 



Tonto Creek, Gila County (Kearney and Harrison 8364), Paradise, 

 Cochise County (Blumer 2267), 5,500 feet, October. Naturalized 



3 ' Reference: Safford, W. E. synopsis of the genus datura. Wash. Acad. Sci. Jour. 11: 17 

 1921. 



