Question

Explain the characteristics of Datura.

Answer 1

Datura is a genus belonging to the family Solanaceae of nine poisonous vespertine flowering plant species. They are commonly known as thornapples or jimson weeds, but they are sometimes referred to as the devil's trumpets.

Complete answer:

Datura species are sprawling herbaceous annuals or short-lived perennials, distinguished by large flowers shaped like a trumpet.
White, yellow, pink, or purple can be the fragrant flowers and produce a spiny capsule fruit with numerous seeds.
The leaves, with lobed, wavy, or entire margins, are simple and alternately arranged. The plants contain potent alkaloids, including atropine, scopolamine, which hyoscyamine, and can be lethal if ingested.
Datura species are nightshade families, which have been used for centuries in magic or religious ceremonies in different locations around the world.
Every part of this plant, however, is toxic, and each year it leads to numerous unintentional poisoning deaths.
Unfortunately, it is also abused as a recreational drug, a practise that has led to overdose deaths, because this plant leads to hallucinations and intoxication.
Jimsonweed grows to a height of up to 6.5 feet (1 to almost 2 metres) and is commonly found along roadsides or other habitats that are disturbed.
The plant has large trumpet-shaped white or violet flowers and produces a large spiny fruit capsule to which the common thorn apple name is sometimes added.
The stems are green, sometimes purple tinged, and simple alternate leaves with toothed to lobed margins are carried.

Note: For use as medicines, some Datura species are collected, and others are cultivated for their showy flowers. In warm parts of the world, many are called weeds and typically grow along roadsides and other disturbed habitats. Datura species are sometimes confused with members of the Brugmansia related genus, which has a variety of ornamental trees and shrubs known as trumpets of the angel.