DATURA STRAMONIUM.— OFFICINAL THORN-APPLE. 
Class V. PENTANDRIA.— Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, SOLANE-dS. — < — THE NIGHT-SHADE TRIBE. 
This is an annual plant originally imported from America, where it is known under the name of Apple of 
Peru, Devil’s Apple, and Jamestown weed; but was first cultivated in this country from seeds that were 
brought from Constantinople by Lord Edward Zouch, about the year 1597, and by the old writers of that 
period it is called the “Thorny Apple of Peru.” A variety is also native to America, which is generally a 
larger plant, bearing purple flowers, striped with deep purple inside, and having a reddish stem, minutely 
dotted with green. It is supposed to be the D. tatula of Linnaeus, which possesses the same sensible and 
medicinal properties as the plant under consideration. The common Thorn-apple is an annual plant, 
frequently observed naturalized on dunghills, in waste places, and near gardens, in the south of England, 
particularly in the environs of London, whence it has been admitted into our Flora, by Sir J. E. Smith, 
and figured in “English Botany,” t. 1288. 
The thorn-apple rises from a white, branched, woody, and fibrous root, to the height of about two feet. 
The stem is herbaceous, erect, round, smooth, of a yellowish green colour, undivided below, dichotomous 
above, and clothed with leaves, springing from the divisions of the stem and branches ; which are of a 
dark green colour on the upper surface, and paler beneath ; ovate, pointed, smooth, alternate, sinuated, and 
toothed, on long cylindrical footstalks. The flowers are large, erect, of a snow-white colour, and proceed 
singly, on short footstalks from the axillee of the stem and branches. The calyx is monosepalous, oblong, 
tubular, and five-toothed : the corolla is funnel-shaped, with the tube cylindrical, longer than the calyx ; 
the limb, spreading, five-angled, acuminate, with five teeth. The filaments are five, awl-shaped, and sup- 
port oblong flat heart-shaped anthers. The style is erect, filiform, the length of the stamens, with an ob- 
tuse bi-lobed stigma. Germen ovate. The fruit is a roundish, ovate capsule, beset with sharp awl-shaped 
spines, two-celled at the top, four-celled at the bottom, as two of the valves do not extend all through the 
capsule ; four valved, and seated on the base of the calyx. The seeds are numerous, and kidney-shaped. 
The generic name Datura is derived by Forskal, from the Arabic appellation T&torah. The specific 
name, stramonium, is supposed to be a corruption of 0 -rpvxvoix.a.viKov, in reference to its effects in causing 
madness. 
Qualities. — Every part of Stramonium when recent, has a strong, heavy, disagreeable odour : in 
America said to be sometimes so powerful, that intermittent fever has been ascribed to it, which Beck 
remarks, “ is evidently laying too much stress on the plant ; but its effluvia are certainly noxious.” It pos- 
sesses a bitter taste, and imparts to the saliva a green tinge, when chewed. Cows, horses, sheep, and goats 
refuse this plant. 
Chemical Properties. — The virtues of Stramonium, which appear to be extractive, are imparted to 
water and alcohol ; but most readily to the former. This extractive principle is copiously precipitated from 
the infusion, by muriate of tin. With sulphate of iron it gives a deep green, and sometimes an olive colour; 
and with gelatin undergoes no change. The watery infusion is transparent, with a very pale yellow hue, 
which is dissipated by acids, but very much deepened by the alkalies. According to Wedenberg, (Disser- 
tatio Medica de Stramonii usu,) it contains gum or mucus, resin and a volatile principle, which Dr. A. Todd 
Thomson pronounces to be carbonate of ammonia. Dr. S. Cooper, of America, by evaporating infusion of 
Stramonium, observed a large number of minute crystals, resembling particles of nitre ; and Professor 
Bigelow, thinking that they might be analogous to the crystals obtained by Derosne from opium, instituted 
a series of experiments to ascertain the fact, but was unsuccessful. Brandes has succeeded in extracting 
from the seeds of Stramonium, an alkaline principle similar to Atropine in its relations, to which he has 
given the name Daturine. It contains the whole of the poisonous matter of Stramonium, and its vapour is 
likewise exceedingly prejudicial. 
Poisonous Effects. — Stramonium, when administered in too large doses, produces intoxication, 
nausea, delirium, loss of sense, drowsiness, a sort of madness and fury : loss of memory, sometimes perma- 
nent; convulsions, sense of suffocation, paralysis of the limbs, cold sweats, excessive thirst, dilatation of the 
pupil, tremblings, and death. 
The Royal Society gravely inquired of Sir Philberto Vernatti, “Whether the Indians can so prepare the 
stupifying herb Datura, that they make it lie several days, months, or years, according as they will have it, 
in a man’s body ; and at the end kill him without missing half an hour’s time ?” 
In Beverly’s History of Virginia, p. 121, we find the following curious passage ; — “The Jamestown 
weed, which resembles the thorny apples of Peru, (and I take it to be the plant so called,) is supposed to 
be one of the greatest coolers in the world. This being an early plant, was gathered very young for a 
boiled salad, by some of the soldiers sent thither to quell the rebellion of Bacon ; and some of them ate 
plentifully of it : the effect of which was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for 
several days. One would blow up a feather in the air, another would dart straws at it with much fury ; 
