Devil’s apple or weed, herbe aux sorciers, Jamestown weed, mad-apple, pomme épineuse, stink-wort, stramonium, stramoine commune

Datura stramonium var. tatula (Linnaeus) Torrey; D. tatula Linnaeus

Herbs annual, to 15 dm. Stems sometimes purple, sparsely puberulent, glabrescent. Leaf blades broadly ovate, to 22 × 12 cm, margins coarsely sinuate-dentate, surfaces glabrescent. Flowers: calyx hairy along veins, tube cylindric, 5-toothed; corolla usually white, sometimes purplish, trumpet-shaped, (5–)6–11 cm, acuminate lobes alter­nating with sinuses. Capsules erect, dehiscent by 4 valves, pericarp dry, glabrous or hairy, with prickles ± equal, to 15 mm; calyx remnant not accrescent. Seeds black, 3–4 mm, convex marginal ridge absent, testa rugose; caruncle absent. 2n = 24.

Flowering summer. Gardens, cultivated fields, irri­gation ditches, pastures, road and trail margins, waste places; 0–1800 m; introduced; Alta., B.C., N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.; Mexico; introduced nearly worldwide.

Although a weed found throughout the world, Datura stramonium is probably native to central and southern Mexico and accompanied the expansion of Mesoamerican agriculture. Based upon a revised inter­pretation of ancient Latin and Greek texts, A. Touwaide (1998) argued that it was known in the Old World prior to the discovery of the New World in 1492. The delirious consequences of the British soldiers’ consumption of young leaves at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1676 led to the application of the common name of jimsonweed to D. stramonium (R. Beverley 1705).