Angel’s trumpet, Indian-apple, sacred datura

Datura metel Linnaeus var. quinquecuspida Torrey

Herbs perennial, to 12 dm, roots tuberous. Stems usually canes­cent, sometimes glabrescent. Leaf blades ovate, to 22 × 16 cm, margins entire or irregularly sinuate-dentate, abaxial surface canescent (especially along veins), hairs appressed or curved, sometimes glandular, adaxial surface puberulent to glabrescent. Flowers: calyx canescent along veins, tube cylindric, 5-toothed; corolla white, sometimes tinged pale lavender, broadly funnelform, usually puberulent along veins, 14–26 cm, acuminate lobes alternating with smaller lobules. Capsules pendent, irregularly dehiscent, pericarp fleshy, puberulent, with prickles usually less than 10 mm; calyx remnant slightly accrescent. Seeds brown, 4–6 mm, convex marginal ridge present, testa smooth; caruncle present. 2n = 24.

Flowering Jun–Oct. Streamsides, irrigation ditches, road and trail margins, waste places, desert and desert-margin shrublands, grasslands; 0–2100 m; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tex., Utah, Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora); introduced nearly worldwide.

Datura wrightii has been introduced worldwide both as an ornamental and unintentionally. In the flora area, it is native in Texas and possibly New Mexico. The combination D. innoxia subsp. quinquecuspida (Torrey) A. S. Barclay is an invalidly published synonym of D. wrightii.